In the ABB-related case against John Joseph O’Shea pending in the Southern District of Texas, Judge Lynn Hughes denied O’Shea’s motion to dismiss the indictment based on O’Shea’s challenge that employees of the Mexican utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (“CFE”) are not “foreign officials” under the FCPA. Judge Hughes adopted the DOJ’s view that foreign, state-owned enterprises are instrumentalities under the FCPA, making their officers and employees “foreign officials” under FCPA definitions.  This is the fifth failure at the trial court level to challenge the DOJ’s definition of a foreign official. The ABB-related case summaries may be accessed in the TRACE Compendium here.