[light_cone]

I would not know how that works, but I can recall a "strange" order of judicial events in the Alstom buyout by General Electric. Frédéric Pierucci was incarcerated for some weird foreign bribery charges, refused to be an FBI informant, and was released once Alstom was sold. He wrote a book about it. It really seems he was held as an economic hostage.

So when you learn about that, it's easier to think that the justice branch is much much closer to the executive branch than what it seems.

[sgt101]

If I were the French government and Frédéric Pierucci were taken hostage why would I give a flying somethingorother. What leverage did the USA gain from holding this man? Ok, if they had taken Macron's daughter, or a bus full of french school children I might buy it... but a energy company exec?

Indeed (to steal wording from the Wikipedia article) if I had been in charge in France and really thought this was happening I'd have taken some hostages of my own ! They would have been arrested on drugs and sex charges, I'd have had the security services fabricating lots of juicy stuff etc etc etc.

[light_cone]

When you imprison someone until they become a spy in the company you're trying to buy, do you really think there is no outcome where you might gain leverage?