Earlier this month, Asante Berko (a former Executive Director of Goldman Sachs International) was convicted by a jury of FCPA and related offenses in connection with a Ghana bribery scheme after a trial in the E.D. of New York.
Recently, Berko filed a motion for acquittal and a new trial.
In summary fashion the motion states:
“Defendant Asante Kwaku Berko moves pursuant to Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure for a judgment of acquittal on all counts because the evidence admitted at trial was insufficient for any rational trier of fact to find that the Government had proven Mr. Berko’s guilt with respect to any of the charged offenses. Specifically, the evidence at trial was insufficient for any reasonable jury to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, (1) that Mr. Berko agreed with the alleged co-conspirators to violate the FCPA by paying bribes to Ghanaian government officials, as necessary to sustain a conviction as to Count One, (2) that any of the elements of Count Two were established, including that Mr. Berko offered or paid anything of value, with corrupt intent for an improper purpose, and (3) that the transfers of funds that served as the basis of conviction as to Count Three were the result of a separate agreement among the alleged coconspirators with the specific intent to promote the alleged bribery scheme or substantive FCPA violation. In addition, the evidence was insufficient for the jury to conclude by a preponderance of the evidence that venue in the Eastern District of New York was proven as to all Counts. In the alternative, Mr. Berko moves pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33 for a new trial on all counts.”
Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin is investigating Trump Son-In-Law Jared Kushner for potential FCPA violations in connection with a land purchase in Albania.
Raskin’s sophomoric letter to Kushner begins:
“You may have been too busy causing a new foreign policy fiasco in Albania after your yachting foray in the Adriatic to get back to us on some questions we have about your stark conflicts of interest taking place right here in America. So, in case you had forgotten about the existence of a congressional investigation into your conflicts of interest and corrupt business practices, I write to remind you of your obligation to respond to congressional investigative inquiries and also to notify you that we have expanded our investigation to include your suspect real estate practices.”
In February 2026, Charles Hunter Hobson (who served in a variety of roles at Corsa Coal from 2013 to 2018) was found guilty by a jury for various Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related offenses in connection with an Egyptian bribery scheme.
As stated by the DOJ, the bribery scheme involved “Al Nasr Company for Coke and Chemicals (Al Nasr), which was then a state-owned and state-controlled chemical manufacturing company in Egypt.”
The issue of whether Al Nasr was an “instrumentality” of the Egyptian government, such that employees of Al Nasr could be “foreign officials” under the FCPA, was the focus of a specific jury instruction and this prior post discussed how it was flawed.
In December 2023, Freepoint Commodities resolved a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement action in connection with a bribery scheme in Brazil.
The criminal charge of conspiracy to violate the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions was resolved through a deferred prosecution agreement in which Freepoint agreed to pay approximately $98 million as well as a host of compliance and reporting obligations for the duration of the DPA.
Section 3 of the DPA titled “Term of the Agreement” stated:
In February 2026 Charles Hunter Hobson (who served in a variety of roles at Corsa Coal from 2013 to 2018) was found guilty by a jury for various Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related offenses in connection with an Egyptian bribery scheme.
With a motion for a judgment of acquittal pending, Hobson switched counsel and is now represented by R. McConnell Group attorneys Ryan McConnell, Matthew Boyden, and Larry Finder. This same group of attorneys recently represented FCPA defendant Ramon Alexandro Rovirosa Martinez (in April 2026, Judge Kenneth Hoyt (S.D. Texas) granted post-trial motions to dismiss and acquittal by Ramon Alexandro Rovirosa Martinez and ordered that he be released from prison).
New counsel drew the court’s attention to a June Supreme Court decision – Hunter v. U.S. – and how it “bears directly on how this case was litigated.”
Yesterday, and separate from the pending motion for a judgment of acquittal, Hobson filed a motion to dismiss based on the court’s supervisory powers.