THE COMMON LAW principle that federal courts will not enforce foreign tax judgments was not subverted when Congress toughened money laundering provisions in the wake of Sept. 11, an Eastern District judge ruled yesterday.
Dismissing three lawsuits brought by countries that charged major tobacco companies were undermining tax collections by encouraging cigarette smuggling, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis said Congress did not intend to abrogate the common law “revenue rule” when it added money laundering to the federal racketeering statute with the passage of the so-called the USA Patriot Act in October 2001.
