Given that 60 percent of the DOJ's FCPA enforcement actions last year involved alleged bribes to employees of state-owned companies, a lot was riding on Lindsey Manufacturing's argument that Congress didn't intend those employees to be considered foreign officials under FCPA. Judge Matz's ruling hewed closely to the specific facts before him, leaving open the possibility that another defendant may yet succeed in a similar challenge.

Aluminum giant Alcoa has had enough of waiting to defend itself against sensational bribery claims by a Bahraini rival while the DOJ and SEC build their own cases against the company. On Thursday Cravath's Evan Chesler travelled to Pittsburgh to make Alcoa's case for lifting a three-year-old stay in the civil suit so that it can seek dismissal, but federal prosecutors countered that allowing the case to proceed could threaten the government's investigation.