Law Commons^™

Foreign Affairs Prosecutions, Steven Arrigg Koh

Faculty Scholarship

Contemporary global crime and cross-border law enforcement cooperation have multiplied “foreign affairs prosecutions,” cases that encompass foreign apprehension, evidence gathering, and criminal conduct, as well as cases that implicate foreign nations’ criminal justice interests. Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the fugitive Edward Snowden, and the cross-border crimes of FIFA and El Chapo all exemplify such foreign affairs prosecutions. This Article argues that foreign affairs prosecutions represent a consequential shift in U.S. criminal law, offering the promise of closing global impunity gaps. At the same time, however, such cases risk defendant interests at home and U.S. foreign policy abroad. This Article calls …

Vat Fraud And Terrorist Funding -- The Azizi Extradition Allegations Part I, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

On April 14, 2015 Samir Azizi, a 25 year old German/Afghan citizen, was extradited from the United States to Germany. The Extradition Compliant alleged (in 89 criminal counts) that Azizi had denied the German Treasury €61,104,368 in VAT revenue with 12 distinct Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud schemes. At the time of arrest the 26 year old Azizi admitted that his involvement in MTIC frauds stretched back even before 2008, the initial reference year of the Complaint.

This paper assesses the Azizi extradition in two parts. The first part considers the first 26 criminal counts, representing alleged VAT losses of …