Uncle Sam's long arms

Jimmy Carter once said that the thing he was most proud of as president was the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It bans corrupt behavior overseas by U.S. citizens, U.S. residents and officers of U.S. companies. Viktor Kožený is sitting in a jail in the Bahamas awaiting extradition to the U.S. for conspiring to violate the act in Azerbaijan. He has essentially admitted to bribing the Azerbaijani government but claims he's not subject to the U.S. law, because he's not an American citizen. But Kožený was a resident of Aspen when he spun his Azerbaijani web and caught several influential American investors in it. It's ironic that he's being caught up on a technicality. He profited so handsomely from coupon privatization in the CR because he knew the laws inside and out and had political cover. When he moved to the U.S., though, he turned soft and forgot to read up on Jimmy Carter.