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David Krakoff Quoted in Law360: "Gabon FCPA Execs Decry FBI Tactics, Informant"

Partner David Krakoff was quoted in the January 10 Law360 article, "Gabon FCPA Execs Decry FBI Tactics, Informant."

“The government's arrogance blinded it to the obvious,” John Mushriqui's attorney David Krakoff told a Washington federal jury during his closing argument. The obvious truth of the matter was that the Mushriquis had figured out there was no actual Gabon deal, he argued.

The purported deal set out in the FBI sting operation that pulled in the executives involved government informant Richard Bistrong pitching $15 million worth of phony sales of military equipment to the Ministry of National Defense of Gabon. He told the defendants at meetings in Miami that he and Pascal Latour, an undercover FBI agent posing as a broker for the deal, would split a $1.5 million commission, with another $1.5 million going to Bongo.

“They made a deal with the devil,” Krakoff said of the Mushriquis' relationship with Bistrong. “They put all their stock in one corrupt man.”

Click here to read the full article at Law360.com (subscription required).