Second Circuit rules on scope of FCPA jurisdiction

On appeal, the DOJ asked the Second Circuit to rule on whether a foreign person who does not reside in the US and is not otherwise a “covered person” under the FCPA may nevertheless be liable for conspiring or aiding and abetting a US company to violate the FCPA .  The court concluded that charges premised on conspiracy or aiding and abetting theories cannot be used to extend liability beyond the categories of covered persons defined in the statute.  The decision left open the question whether Lawrence Hoskins, a UK national employed by the French company Alstom S.A. outside of the US, could be held liable under the FCPA because he is deemed to have acted as an agent of a domestic concern, Alstom’s US entity.

Second Circuit decision