The case of Nigel Potter, the chief executive of British gaming company Wembley who briefly considered a plan to pay $US4 million to the law firm of a US politician, should act as a warning to Australian businesses about the long arm of US law, reported The Australian Financial Review (22/9/2006, p.25).
Three years for crooked ideas: Potter discussed the idea with Wembley’s board, lawyers and auditors before deciding not to go ahead. Although no money changed hands, Potter was sentenced to three years in a Pennsylvania jail for trying to bribe a government official.
Cooperation cut no ice: Potter had gone voluntarily to the US saying he was innocent, but if he had stayed in the UK he faced a big risk of extradition by force.
Australians just as vulnerable: Experts warned that Australians doing business with the US were just as exposed to tough US laws because our extradition treaty required a similarly low burden of proof. Extradition was possible for any criminal offences that carry penal sentences of more than a year in both countries.
The Australian Financial Review, 22/9/2006, p. 25
Source: Erisk Net