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Should Trump's Foreign Policy Affect Criminal Prosecutions?

By Robert J. Anello and Kostya Lantsman
May 01, 2019

Business has gone global. So too has business-related crime. In the interconnected business environment, white-collar criminal investigations and prosecutions frequently present cross-border issues and affect U.S. foreign relations. Indeed, in some recent high-profile cases, the Trump administration has implied that it sees law enforcement — or the lack of it — as one of the tools in its foreign policy arsenal. Allowing these foreign relations implications to influence the prosecutions of individuals would seem to violate our notions of fairness and due process. Because corporate criminal enforcement, however, is far more regulatory or policy-oriented in nature, foreign relations perhaps can be seen as a legitimate consideration in such criminal prosecution decisions.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations, sanctions enforcement, and prosecution of economic espionage by design deal with international issues. Even for cases brought under laws that do not necessarily implicate cross-border issues, complex fraud (LIBOR and FX manipulation conspiracies), banking crimes, and money laundering enforcement, foreign relations may be implicated because of the nationality or location of the defendants. Because enforcement of the federal criminal code abroad or against foreign individuals and entities has an effect on foreign states, such cases have an impact on the relationship between the United States and other countries. For example, the recent arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of China's Huawei and daughter of Huawei's influential founder, made international headlines. Charges against Meng, Huawei, and ZTE, another Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, have significantly affected America's vital and delicate relationship with China.

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