United States v. Hoskins

73 F. Supp. 3d 154, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177789, 2014 WL 7385131
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedDecember 29, 2014
DocketCivil No. 3:12cr238 (JBA)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 73 F. Supp. 3d 154 (United States v. Hoskins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hoskins, 73 F. Supp. 3d 154, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177789, 2014 WL 7385131 (D. Conn. 2014).

Opinion

RULING ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS THE INDICTMENT

JANET BOND ARTERTON, District Judge.

Defendant Lawrence Hoskins moves [Doc. # 149] to dismiss the Second Superseding Indictment [Doc. # 50] (“the In[158]*158dictment”) charging him with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Count One); substantive violations of the FCPA, in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 78dd-2 and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Counts Two through Seven); conspiring to launder money, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) (Count Eight); and substantive money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Counts Nine through Twelve).

Defendant contends that the Indictment must be dismissed in its entirety because (1) he withdrew from the charged conspiracy outside of the limitations period; (2) the Indictment fails to adequately allege that he was an agent of a domestic concern, which is an element of a FCPA offense; (3) alternatively, if he is an agent of a domestic concern, the FCPA is unconstitutionally vague as applied; (4) the FCPA does not apply extraterritorially to non-U.S. citizens; (5) venue is not proper in this District for the money-laundering counts; and (6) alternatively, if venue lies in this District, the money-laundering counts are multiplicitous with the FCPA counts. For the reasons that follow, Defendant’s motion is denied.

I. Background

On July 30, 2013, a grand jury sitting in New Haven, Connecticut, returned the twelve-count Indictment against Mr. Hos-kins alleging that he participated in a bribery scheme that spanned from 2002 through 2009 for Alstom Power, Inc. (“Al-stom Power U.S.”), a company headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, to secure a $118 million project to build power stations for Indonesia’s state-owned and state-controlled electricity company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara (“PLN”), known as the Tarahan Project. (Indictment ¶¶2-10, 26.) Mr. Hoskins and his co-defendants are alleged to have arranged, scheduled, and caused payments to Indonesian government officials in exchange for their assistance in awarding the contract to Alstom Power U.S. and its partners. (Id.)

From October 2001 through August 2004, Mr. Hoskins, was employed as a Senior Vice President for the Asia Region by Alstom Holdings S.A. (“Alstom”), a French holding company that is alleged to have acted through its subsidiaries, including Alstom Power U.S., “without distinction” between the different entities. (Id. ¶¶ 2, 7.) Mr. Hoskins, a citizen of the United Kingdom, worked in Paris for Alstom and never traveled to the United States in connection with his employment.1 (Id.; Hoskins Aff. [Doc. # 149] ¶¶ 2, 4, 9.) His role in the alleged conspiracy was to approve the selection of and authorize payments to two third-party consultants retained for the purpose of making illegal payments to officials of the Indonesian government in order to secure a contract for the Tarahan Project.2 (Id. ¶¶ 4, 6-7, 13.)

In August 2004, while the charged conspiracy was in progress, Mr. Hoskins re[159]*159signed from Alstom in order “to pursue other [business] opportunities.” (Hoskins Aff. ¶ 5 & Ex. 2.) In his affidavit submitted in support of this motion, Mr. Hoskins represents that after his resignation from Alstom, he was in contact with his former colleagues on only three occasions: (1) in October 2004, he attended a farewell lunch in his honor in Paris; (2) in December 2004, his former secretary circulated a holiday greeting via email to his former colleagues; and (3) in June 2007, Mr. Hoskins “met with a few Alstom executives (none alleged to be co-conspirators) in Paris as a courtesy to [his] former boss ... to hear a pitch for [his] return to Alstom in the United Kingdom,” which Mr. Hoskins had indicated beforehand he was unlikely to be interested in and ultimately did not pursue. (Hoskins Aff. ¶ 10-11.) Mr. Hoskins avers that he does not own any Alstom stock and has not received any money or benefits from Alstom after his resignation with the exception of a “small pension” that he and Alstom contributed to during his 35 months of employment, but which neither contributed to after his resignation. (Id. ¶ 12.)

II. Discussion

“It is well settled that ‘an indictment is sufficient if it, first, contains the elements of the offense charged and fairly informs a defendant of the charge against which he must defend, and, second, enables him to plead an acquittal or conviction in bar of future prosecutions for the same offense.’ ” United States v. Alfonso, 143 F.3d 772, 776 (2d Cir.1998) (quoting Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 117, 94 S.Ct. 2887, 41 L.Ed.2d 590 (1974)). Although “an indictment must ‘charge! ] a crime with sufficient precision’ ” to satisfy these two requirements, it “need do little more than to track the language of the statute charged and state the time and place (in approximate terms) of the alleged crime.” Id. (quoting United States v. Stavroulakis, 952 F.2d 686, 693 (2d Cir.1992)) (alterations in original). “[T]he government need not particularize all of its evidence.” United States v. Cephas, 937 F.2d 816, 823 (2d Cir.1991).

“Unless the government has made what can fairly be described as a full proffer of the evidence it intends to present at trial ..., the sufficiency of the evidence is not appropriately addressed on a pretrial motion to.dismiss an indictment” and the allegations in the indictment must be accepted as true. Alfonso, 143 F.3d at 776-77 (reversing dismissal of an indictment when the district court “looked beyond the face of the indictment and drew inferences as to the proof that would be introduced by the government at trial” to satisfy an element of the charge); accord Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 363, 76 S.Ct. 406, 100 L.Ed. 397 (1956) (If “valid on its face,” a grand jury indictment “is enough to call for trial of the charge on the merits.”) (internal citations omitted).

A. Withdrawal from a Conspiracy

Defendant contends that the Indictment must be dismissed because his resignation from Alstom and severing of ties with his alleged co-conspirators establish his withdrawal from the charged conspiracy as a matter of law and thus the applicable five-year statute of limitations expired on all charges prior to return of the Indictment. See 18 U.S.C. § 3282. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure

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Bluebook (online)
73 F. Supp. 3d 154, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177789, 2014 WL 7385131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hoskins-ctd-2014.