The American Trap: My battle to expose America's secret economic war against the rest of the world
In 2014, France lost part of the control of its nuclear power plants to the United States. Frédéric Pierucci, former senior executive of one of Alstom's subsidiaries, found himself at the heart of this state scandal. His story goes to the very heart of a $12 billion thriller that illustrates the secret economic war that the United States is waging in Europe. And after being silenced for a long time, he has decided, with the help of journalist Matthieu Aron, to reveal all.

In April 2013, Frédéric was arrested in New York by the FBI and prosecuted for a bribery case, despite not being involved at all. The US authorities locked him up for more than two years - including fourteen months in a very high security prison. In doing so, they forced Alstom to pay the biggest penalty ever imposed by the United States. In the end, Alstom also gave up areas of control to General Electric, its biggest American competitor.

Frédéric's story unpacks how the United States is diverting the law and morality and using corporate law as an economic weapon against its own allies. One after the other, some of the world's largest companies are being actively destabilised to the benefit of the US Treasury, in acts of sabotage that seem only to be the beginning of what's to come...
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The American Trap: My battle to expose America's secret economic war against the rest of the world
In 2014, France lost part of the control of its nuclear power plants to the United States. Frédéric Pierucci, former senior executive of one of Alstom's subsidiaries, found himself at the heart of this state scandal. His story goes to the very heart of a $12 billion thriller that illustrates the secret economic war that the United States is waging in Europe. And after being silenced for a long time, he has decided, with the help of journalist Matthieu Aron, to reveal all.

In April 2013, Frédéric was arrested in New York by the FBI and prosecuted for a bribery case, despite not being involved at all. The US authorities locked him up for more than two years - including fourteen months in a very high security prison. In doing so, they forced Alstom to pay the biggest penalty ever imposed by the United States. In the end, Alstom also gave up areas of control to General Electric, its biggest American competitor.

Frédéric's story unpacks how the United States is diverting the law and morality and using corporate law as an economic weapon against its own allies. One after the other, some of the world's largest companies are being actively destabilised to the benefit of the US Treasury, in acts of sabotage that seem only to be the beginning of what's to come...
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The American Trap: My battle to expose America's secret economic war against the rest of the world

The American Trap: My battle to expose America's secret economic war against the rest of the world

by Frederic Pierucci
The American Trap: My battle to expose America's secret economic war against the rest of the world

The American Trap: My battle to expose America's secret economic war against the rest of the world

by Frederic Pierucci

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Overview

In 2014, France lost part of the control of its nuclear power plants to the United States. Frédéric Pierucci, former senior executive of one of Alstom's subsidiaries, found himself at the heart of this state scandal. His story goes to the very heart of a $12 billion thriller that illustrates the secret economic war that the United States is waging in Europe. And after being silenced for a long time, he has decided, with the help of journalist Matthieu Aron, to reveal all.

In April 2013, Frédéric was arrested in New York by the FBI and prosecuted for a bribery case, despite not being involved at all. The US authorities locked him up for more than two years - including fourteen months in a very high security prison. In doing so, they forced Alstom to pay the biggest penalty ever imposed by the United States. In the end, Alstom also gave up areas of control to General Electric, its biggest American competitor.

Frédéric's story unpacks how the United States is diverting the law and morality and using corporate law as an economic weapon against its own allies. One after the other, some of the world's largest companies are being actively destabilised to the benefit of the US Treasury, in acts of sabotage that seem only to be the beginning of what's to come...

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781529326871
Publisher: Hodder
Publication date: 11/17/2020
Pages: 336
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Former senior executive of Alstom in the Philippines, Frédéric Pierucci's life was turned upside-down on April 4th, 2013 when he was arrested by the FBI under the Foreign Corruption Practice Act that allows the arrest of anyone, anywhere for suspicion of corruption.


Matthieu Aron is a journalist and former associate director of the Nouvel Observateur and former managing editor at France Inter. He has followed Frederic Pierucci's story since the beginning.

Table of Contents

Author's note xi

Foreword xiii

1 Shock and disbelief 1

2 The US attorney 7

3 The first hearing 17

4 Wyatt 23

5 Recollections 29

6 The phone call 35

7 They forgot me! 40

8 Stan 45

9 Clara 50

10 The second bail hearing 54

11 125 years in prison 60

12 The indictment 65

13 Jail becomes a way of life 73

14 Family support 78

15 The US penal system seen from Wyatt 81

16 My sentencing guidelines 85

17 A pod 92

18 Cut loose by Alstom 96

19 Back to court at New Haven 100

20 The evidence 105

21 The worldwide reach of the prosecutors 109

22 The FCPA 113

23 My guilty plea 121

24 Clara's visit 129

25 I've been fired 135

26 The six months go by 140

27 The family rallies round 145

28 My new job 151

29 The announcement of 24 April 155

30 A time of reckoning with Stan 164

31 General Electric's tale 170

32 A Pyrrhic victory 182

33 The road to freedom 191

34 Free at last! 195

35 Back to France 200

36 My meeting with Matthieu Aron 203

37 Speak or remain silent 206

38 Acrimony at the shareholders' meeting 211

39 The DOJ prosecution show 219

40 Alstom's guilty plea 230

41 French MPs confront Patrick Kron 234

42 Final impediments to the sale 244

43 The employment tribunal 251

44 Relentless blackmail 256

45 The verdict 262

46 Separated again 268

47 My new prison 273

48 Violence and trafficking 278

49 The parliamentary enquiry 283

50 Macron's visit to the United States 289

51 The arduous journey to freedom 294

Epilogue 301

Afterword 309

Appendices

1 Monetary penalties inflicted on European banks by the United States 313

2 How General Electric hushes up its corruption scandals 315

3 A study of fines paid to US authorities under the FCPA (>$100m) 316

4 The difference in treatment of Dow Jones 30 and CAC 40 companies for FCPA violations 317

Acknowledgments 319

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