In a Motion filed this morning, the Government moved to dismiss with prejudice the Superseding Indictment against the remaining defendants in the FCPA Sting Case. In doing so, the Government cited the two mistrials, as well as the acquittal of three defendants, and other rulings in the case.

The Government originally charged twenty-two defendants with conspiring to violate the FCPA, violating the FCPA and conspiring to launder money, based on dealings with an informant and an undercover FBI agent posing as the Minister of Defense of Gabon. The first trial (against four defendants) resulted in a hung jury and a mistrial. In the second trial (against six defendants), Judge Richard Leon dismissed the main conspiracy count as to all defendants and dismissed the Government’s case in its entirety against one defendant. At the conclusion of the second trial, two more of the defendants were acquitted and a another mistrial was declared as to the remaining three defendants when the jury was unable to break its deadlock. The case has received a great deal of scrutiny, including statements from the foreman in the second trial (discussed here) and an interesting story from the Washington Post regarding the relationship between the informant and federal agents.

In the Motion filed today, the Government stated:

The government has carefully considered (1) the outcomes of the first two trials in which, after extensive deliberations, the juries remained hung as to seven defendants and acquitted two defendants, and one defendant was acquitted on the sole charge against him pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 29; (2) the impact of certain evidentiary and other legal rulings in the first two trials and the implications of those rulings for future trials, including with respect to Rule 404(b) and other knowledge and intent evidence the government proposed to introduce; and (3) the substantial governmental resources, as well as judicial, defense, and jury resources, that would be necessary to proceed with another four or more trials, given that the first two trials combined lasted approximately six months. In light of all of the foregoing, the government respectfully submits that continued prosecution of this case is not warranted under the circumstances.

Three of the twenty-two defendants, however, pled guilty before the first trial and await sentencing.