Kazakhstan Oil Fields: The Act of State Doctrine

• Author: Cecil C. Kuhne III
• Pages: 137-141

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Kazakhstan Oil Fields:

The Act of

State Doctrine

United States v. Giffen

326 F.Supp.2d 497 (S.D.N.Y. 2004)

James Gien was charged with ma king bribes of more than $78 million

to the president of Kazakhstan and to the country’s prime minister and

oil minister in order to obtain business for his New York-headquartered

company, Mercator Corporation. He was accused of violating numer-

ous laws: the FCPA, mail and wire fraud statutes, money laundering

statutes, and the federal income tax laws.

Kazakhstan, formerly a republic within the Soviet Union, became a

sovereign nation in 1991, and since its independence, Kazakhstan had

sold rights to its oil and gas reserves to international oil companies. e

Kazakh Ministry of Oil and Gas Industries hired Mercator to assist it