February 2013 FCPA Judicial Decisions

In our recent FCPA Year-in-Review: Developments of 2012 and Predictions for 2013, we noted the likelihood of judicial developments under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 2013, specifically identifying cases in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The wait was short, as February has already yielded two S.D.N.Y. opinions addressing defendants' challenges in two FCPA cases: SEC v. Straub, et al. and SEC v. Sharef, et al. While these decisions are mostly relevant to legal issues pertaining to individuals outside the United States, the decisions do add to the scant body of FCPA case law. This alert discusses the key topics addressed in these opinions: the constitutional minimum contacts necessary for a court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant; whether foreign emails' contact with servers in the United States satisfies the FCPA's interstate commerce element; and the tolling of the statute of limitations while a