The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into Alstom’s commercial practices in 2010, focusing in part on a 2003 Indonesian power-services contract valued at $118 million. Prosecutors alleged that consultants were used to channel bribes to Indonesian parliament members and officials of the state-owned electricity company. Because Alstom had U.S. securities-market connections and Frédéric Pierucci was a vice president at its Connecticut-based subsidiary, the company and its personnel fell within the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s reach.
On April 13, 2013, Pierucci was arrested on allegations of bribery of foreign public officials and conspiracy. He pleaded guilty to multiple charges on July 29, 2013, was fired by Alstom on September 20, and spent about 14 months in high-security detention before obtaining bail. A Connecticut court sentenced him in September 2017 to two and a half years, including time already served; he was released in September 2018. Pierucci later argued that his detention was used as leverage while General Electric negotiated Alstom’s energy-unit acquisition, a claim echoed by French commentators but not established in the supplied account as a judicial finding. The episode became a lasting example of the extraterritorial reach of U.S. anti-corruption enforcement and the strategic consequences of corporate bribery investigations.
