Charles Hunter Hobson (a former executive of Corsa Coal) was criminally charged by the DOJ in 2022 for conspiring with others to make corrupt bribe payments to an individual associated with Al Nasr Company for Coke and Chemicals (an alleged Egyptian state-owned and state-controlled entity) to obtain and retain lucrative contracts, and other business advantages from Al Nasr. (See here for the prior post).
Hobson’s trial is currently scheduled to begin on April 21, 2025 with various pre-trial deadlines approaching over the next several weeks.
As highlighted in this post, on February 10th, President Trump signed an Executive Order Titled “Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security.”
As highlighted in this post, citing the Executive Order Hobson filed a motion seeking to continue the trial date and pretrial deadlines. The motion stated in pertinent part:
“[The Executive] order puts all FCPA enforcement actions in doubt. Furthermore, Mr. Hobson seeks to ensure that his case receives a fair and thorough evaluation and review by the Department of Justice with the possibility that the Department of Justice, under new guidelines, may decide not to further prosecute Mr. Hobson.
[…]
Given the Executive Order and its all-encompassing language regarding FCPA prosecutions, it is reasonable for Mr. Hobson to believe that the state of his case might change after the stringent review required by the Executive Order. Moreover, a review of the indictment in this case would seem to reflect that, if the Department of Justice had evaluated this case under the new guidelines, Mr. Hobson would not be prosecuted.”
In response, the DOJ filed the below motion.
Earlier today, Judge Robert Colville (W.D. Pa) granted Hobson’s motion to continue the trial. (See below).
