FCPA fugitive arrested in Haiti Telco case


A former director of a Florida-based telecommunications company who allegedly bribed officials in Haiti was arrested in February and made an initial court appearance in Miami.





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A former director of a Florida-based telecommunications company who allegedly bribed officials in Haiti was arrested in February and made an initial court appearance in Miami.
The DOJ announced that Daniel Kahn became Chief of the FCPA Unit, effective June 1.
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied a writ of certiorari for two jailed Haiti teleco defendants who argued that employees of state-owned enterprises aren't "foreign officials" under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and bribes paid to them shouldn't be FCPA violations.
Image courtesy of the U.S. Supreme CourtSam Rubenfeld of the Wall Street Journal reported that Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez, who were convicted for FCPA-related offenses in a scheme to bribe officials at Haiti’s state-owned telecom company, plan to file a petition this week for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court.
There was a big FCPA settlement by Hewlett Packard during the prior quarter, nine individual indictments were announced, an appellate court ruled on who's a foreign official, and there was a DOJ declination.
A federal appeals court Friday affirmed the DOJ's expansive view of a "foreign official" under the FCPA, upholding Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez's convictions, and keeping intact the longest prison sentence ever imposed in an FCPA case.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will hear oral arguments Friday from two defendants convicted in the Haiti telco case. They're challenging the DOJ's interpretation of ‘foreign official’ under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.