In the Courts

On Feb. 8, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Sullivan of the Southern District of New York issued an order in S.E.C. v. Straub, 11 CIV. 9645 RJS, 2013 WL 466600 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 8, 2013), in which he denied the defendants' motion to dismiss in their entirety. Although the decision is a non-binding trial court decision, it is nonetheless notable for its holding regarding the statute of limitations in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) anti-bribery violation under 15 U.S.C. ” 78dd-1, et seq.

The case stems from the alleged FCPA violations of three executives (the Defendants) of the Hungarian telecommunications company, Magyar Telekom, Plc. (Magyar). They allegedly bribed political officials in Macedonia in order to protect Magyar from increased competition and to mitigate the effects of increased regulatory burdens in the Macedonian telecommunications arena introduced in early 2005. Beginning in March 2005, the executives allegedly began executing a scheme to bribe public officials from both political parties in Macedonia's government, memorializing the scheme in secret documents known as the Protocols of Operation. As part of this scheme, the Defendants allegedly offered up to '10 million in bribes. Straub, 2013 WL 466600, at *1-3.