DOJ Charges Dual Citizen As Foreign Agent Of Egypt

Last month, Arnold & Porter's FARA attorneys attended ACI's 3rd National Forum on the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The message from DOJ was clear: the crackdown on "foreign agents" we have seen in recent years is far from over. DOJ made good on its messaging late last week when officials announced that they had charged Pierre Girgis, a Manhattan resident and dual citizen of Egypt and the United States, with acting and conspiring to act in the United States as an unregistered agent of the Arab Republic of Egypt, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 951.

FARA and Section 951 address related conduct, but there are several important distinctions between the two statutes. FARA requires the registration of certain agents of foreign principals (which can be foreign governments, entities, or individuals), while Section 951 prohibits agents of foreign governments from acting in the United States without first notifying the Attorney General. FARA's criminal provisions