State Department Declaration in Lindsey "Foreign Official" Challenge

In its opposition brief (here) in the Lindsey "foreign official" challenge, the DOJ states at footnote 5:

"If this Court were to interpret the FCPA in such a way that officials of state-owned and state-controlled enterprises could not be foreign officials, the United States would be out of compliance with its treaty obligations under the OECD Convention. The government has requested a declaration from the State Department confirming this assessment and explaining its implications for U.S. foreign policy. Given the short response period, the declaration could not be finalized, but the government will endeavor to secure the declaration before argument on this motion and will file it if and when it is received."

Last Friday, the DOJ filed a declaration by Clifton Johnson, Assistant Legal Adviser for Law Enforcement and Intelligence in the Legal Adviser's Office of the United States Department of State - see here.

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Readers may also be interested in reviewing the OECD Convention (here) including commentary 15; a previous post (here) on the OECD Convention and U.S. positions; and a previous post (here) on how another OECD signatory country views the term "foreign public official."