13 WTHR IndianapolisJustice gives up sting case over foreign bribes

Justice gives up sting case over foreign bribes

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WASHINGTON -

In a setback for the government, the U.S. Justice Department is giving up its high-profile prosecution of nearly two-dozen businessmen. They were charged in the first undercover sting the government used to enforce a 35-year-old law against foreign bribery.

A federal judge granted the department's motion Tuesday to dismiss all charges against 16 defendants still facing trial after the case fell apart in its first two courtroom tests. Ten defendants went through two lengthy trials, but jurors did not convict a single one, and three were acquitted.

The defendants were military suppliers arrested at a 2010 trade show in Las Vegas where they anticipated picking up checks for sales to outfit Gabon's presidential guard. But no officials from the central African nation were really involved in the purported deal invented by the FBI.

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