business manager
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company".
Compare manager.
Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to op ...
and a former senior
executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
for
Alstom
Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
, who was accused of
willful blindness
In law, willful ignorance is when a person seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally keeping themselves unaware of facts that would render them liable or implicated. In '' United States v. Jewell'', the court ...
to
corporate corruption
In criminology, corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals acting on behalf of a corpor ...
by the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
and was arrested and detained in the United States from 2013 to 2014. He is the author of the book ''The American Trap: My Battle to Expose America's Secret Economic War Against the Rest of the World'', an
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
that chronicles his experience throughout the legal ordeal.
Pierucci's judiciary story is considered in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
as an example of the
hostage diplomacy
Hostage diplomacy, also hostage-diplomacy, is the taking of hostages for diplomatic purposes. While common in the ancient world, it is a controversial practice in modern diplomacy. Modern countries regarded as having engaged in hostage diplomac ...
and
economic warfare
Economic warfare or economic war is an economic strategy used by belligerent states with the goal of weakening the economy of other states. This is primarily achieved by the use of economic blockades. Ravaging the crops of the enemy is a classic ...
waged by the
United States government
The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States.
The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
, including against its purported allies. Indeed, Pierucci's arrest and
imprisonment
Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...
without
bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...
in a
maximum security prison Maximum security prisons and supermax prisons are grades of high security level used by prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility wher ...
in
Rhode Island
Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
occurred while the American multinational conglomerate
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston.
Over the year ...
was negotiating to purchase Alstom's energy section, and he was released within a week of the settlement of the purchase. The resulting transaction gave an American company significant control over France's
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...
s and
energy security
Energy security is the association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption (as opposed to household energy insecurity). Access to cheaper energy has become essential to the functioning of modern ...
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
from
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
.
During the 2000s, he became marketing and sales director in the boiler division of Alstom, a large French transportation and energy company.
Imprisonment in the United States
Alstom attracted US jurisdiction by virtue of the fact that it was a US "Issuer" (basically, that it had some involvement as an issuer on US securities markets). Pierucci was subject to the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from Bribery, bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests.
The FCPA is applic ...
(FCPA) because he was vice-president of Global Sales at a
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
informant inside Alstom, an offer which he refused. He was subsequently kept in custody and denied release on bail.
He was fired from Alstom on 20 September 2013.
He spent 14 months in high-security prison facilities while awaiting trial. He was eventually able to secure bail after American friends provided guarantees. In September 2017, a Connecticut court condemned Pierucci to two years and a half in jail, including time spent awaiting trial. He was released in September 2018.
Aftermath
In April 2014, Pierucci learned that the energy section of Alstom was sold to the American company General Electric. This led him to conclude that his arrest, denial of bail, and continued imprisonment were part of a strategy of economic warfare and hostage diplomacy. He described himself as an "economic hostage". He eventually co-wrote a book about his experience, ''The American Trap''.
France Inter
France Inter () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France.
It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then ren ...
adapted the book as a radio show and podcast.
The
government of France
The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
had initially blocked General Electric's acquisition of Alstom. But after
, who relented and approved the sale. Pierucci was released on bail during the same week as the purchase.
Media organisations in France reported that the sequence of events corresponded to a successful use of
hostage diplomacy
Hostage diplomacy, also hostage-diplomacy, is the taking of hostages for diplomatic purposes. While common in the ancient world, it is a controversial practice in modern diplomacy. Modern countries regarded as having engaged in hostage diplomac ...
by the United States against France. The satirical French newspaper ''
Extradition case of Meng Wanzhou
On December 1, 2018, Meng Wanzhou, the board deputy chairperson and daughter of the founder of the Chinese multinational technology corporation Huawei, was detained upon arrival at Vancouver International Airport by Canada Border Services Agency ...
, a similar arrest of foreign senior manager in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...