The Fifth Circuit Will Consider a Rich Array of Issues Affecting Cross-Border Criminal Investigations

On October 6, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear arguments in two consolidated appeals that together raise an unusually broad array of issues peculiar to efforts by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to prosecute alleged offenders of federal criminal laws even when they have few contacts with the United States.  Both appeals are by the DoJ from separate decisions of Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt of the Southern District of Texas dismissing “for lack of jurisdiction” an indictment as against two European citizens.