“Stéphane Bonifassi: French supreme court finds no double jeopardy based on foreign plea agreement”, The FCPA Blog – Thursday, April 5, 2018

In a case surprisingly ignored by the mainstream media, considering the matter and the parties at stake, France’s Supreme Court recently determined that double jeopardy isn’t a viable defense to prevent the prosecution of a company that had entered into a plea agreement for charges tried in another country.

The decision by the Cour de Cassation, rendered on March 14, involved Swiss oil trader Vitol, which allegedly bribed the government of Iraq to obtain oil under the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food program that ran from 1996 to 2003. Under that program, Iraq could sell oil on the open market to purchase humanitarian supplies for its citizens. Read more

FCPA Blog, News and commentary about white-collar crime, enforcement, and compliance – Thursday, April 5, 2018