[Lee Jong-gil's Autumn Return] Another Face Named 'Miguk'

Frederic Pierucci and Mathieu Arong 'American Ship'

Frederic Pierucci served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a subsidiary of the French energy company Alstom. On April 14, 2013, he was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents at JFK International Airport in New York, USA. The charge was violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FCPA is a law enacted after the Watergate scandal.

At that time, U.S. judicial authorities were investigating the political corruption of President Richard Nixon and exposing a system in which illegal funds and bribes were given to foreign public officials. In fact, the U.S. defense contractor Lockheed provided tens of millions of dollars in bribes to government officials and senior executives of companies in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, and other countries to sell fighter jets abroad. They even gave more than one million dollars to Prince Bernhard, the husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, to sell the F-104 fighter jet.

Under the subsequently enacted FCPA, U.S. companies are prohibited from bribing foreign public officials. If there is evidence that dollars were used in the transaction or emails with servers located in the U.S. were involved, suspects can be detained regardless of nationality.

Pierucci was indicted for a bribery case revealed during a 2003 bidding process for a power plant on Sumatra Island, Indonesia. He was accused of involvement in providing bribes to Indonesian legislators as the global sales head of Alstom’s power division. However, he never arranged or found intermediaries for the bribes. He was only aware that the company had delivered the bribes.

The prosecution knew this. However, they demanded cooperation as part of indicting Alstom’s top executives. Pierucci, who did not succumb to the prosecution’s enticements, endured all kinds of hardships. His bail request was denied, and he was imprisoned in a notoriously harsh U.S. prison. He was deprived of his freedom for five years until he became an internal informant.

The American Trap vividly records Pierucci’s arduous struggle against the U.S. Department of Justice. It exposes how the U.S. used its domestic laws to target companies and individuals from other countries. Since 2008, twenty-six companies have paid fines exceeding $100 million in the U.S. Among them, only five are American companies. The amount of fines paid by European companies is about 33% of that paid by U.S. companies.

The American Trap argues that "over the past 20 years, European countries have willingly endured extortion." "Companies from Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK have been sanctioned one after another on charges of bribery, financial crimes, and sanctions violations, with hundreds of billions of dollars in fines flowing into the pockets of the U.S. Treasury. French companies alone have paid $13 billion in fines, and many more companies are lined up to face penalties."

In 2004, the total fines paid by companies for FCPA violations were only $10 million. However, by 2016, this suddenly surged to $2.7 billion. This was due to the Patriot Act enacted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Under the pretext of counterterrorism, U.S. government agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and FBI were granted broad authority to surveil foreign companies and their employees.

Pierucci fears that this vicious cycle may continue. As evidence, he cites the anti-corruption legislation that the U.S. government urges OECD countries to enact. France announced its anti-corruption convention in May 2000. "Unlike the U.S., European countries neither had the means nor the ambition to enact laws enabling extraterritorial effects, which trapped them. By joining the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, they effectively granted the U.S. the authority to prosecute European companies. Conversely, they did not have legal means to attack U.S. companies."

The American Trap defines the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention as "a malignant mechanism that traps OECD member countries." At this point, illegal funds and bribery cases feel like a kind of bargaining justification. In fact, when the U.S. Department of Justice suspects bribery, it immediately contacts the CEO of the accused company and offers several options. Most CEOs then choose to negotiate.

There are about 600 FBI agents assigned to anti-corruption missions. In France, except for drug investigations, legally prohibited sting operations are also conducted. In 2009, a secret agent disguised as a lobbyist for the Gabon Ministry of Defense visited twenty companies pretending to lobby. He dangled bonuses as bait for contract success. Informants were infiltrated into companies to collect evidence. Targeted companies were hit, troublesome companies were dismantled, and resisting companies paid the price.

Armed with military power, judicial weapons, and information technology, the imperialistic logic of the U.S. leaves other countries with no room to resist. Usually, three outcomes occur: cooperate, submit, or disappear. The American Trap emphasizes that "we must abandon illusions and face reality."

"The environment we face is neither the hard power spoken of by President George Bush, nor the smart power mentioned by President Clinton, nor the soft power advocated by President Obama. We are now under the control of the U.S. tough power. (...) If we continue to take this lightly, ignore the harsh realities of international competition, and pay no attention to the actions of a certain country, these companies will be cut down at any time." (Written by Frederic Pierucci and Mathieu Aron / Translated by Jeong Hye-yeon / Ollim / 19,800 KRW)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.