United States v. Hoskins

The federal government (plaintiff) charged Lawrence Hoskins (defendant) in federal district court with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other criminal charges, based on Hoskins’s alleged involvement in a bribery scheme. In its initial two indictments, the government alleged that Hoskins was subject to the FCPA as an agent of Alstom Power, Inc. (Alstom US), a domestic concern that was headquartered in Connecticut. Hoskins worked as an executive officer for an Alstom US subsidiary based in the United Kingdom (Alstom UK). The government alleged that Hoskins hired and authorized payments to consultants that Alstom US retained to bribe Indonesian officials to secure a government contract. In its third indictment, the government claimed that Hoskins conspired to violate the FCPA by acting “together with” a domestic concern. Hoskins moved to dismiss the FCPA conspiracy charge in the government’s third indictment, arguing that he could not be prosecuted for conspiring to violate or aiding and abetting a violation of the FCPA because Congress intended to exclude foreign nationals from FCPA liability unless they fell into specific categories. In response, the government filed a motion in limine to prevent Hoskins from informing the jury that the jury must find that Hoskins was an agent of a domestic concern, arguing that the jury may instead find that Hoskins aided and abetted the FCPA violation.