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Document 2017-03-1303

AI Analysis

Summary: The document argues that the defendant's citizenship in France makes it highly unlikely that she would be extradited to the United States if she flees there, as France does not extradite its citizens outside the European Union. The French Ministry of Justice confirmed this in a letter to the Government. The document concludes that an anticipatory extradition waiver would not be binding in France.
Significance: This document is potentially important because it reveals that the defendant's citizenship in France could prevent her extradition to the United States, despite any extradition waiver she may have signed.
Key Topics: extradition waiver jurisdiction and extradition laws bail motion and defendant's citizenship
Key People:
  • the defendant - the individual whose extradition and bail are being discussed
Document Type
Court Filing
Date
Unknown
Pages
1
Folder
IMAGES001

Full Text

the jurisdiction of her choosing (i.e., the one to which she chose to flee). The Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs ("OIA") is unaware of any country anywhere in the world that would consider an anticipatory extradition waiver binding. Indeed, the defendant's own experts' conclusion—that "because of these waivers and other factors, it is highly unlikely that she would be able to resist extradition successfully," (Mot. at 27)—leaves open the possibility that she could avoid extradition. Such an outcome is virtually a certainty as to France, a country of which the defendant is a citizen and which does not extradite its citizens to the United States. To confirm this fact, after receiving the Renewed Bail Motion, the Government, through OIA, contacted the French Ministry of Justice ("MOJ") to clarify whether there is any circumstance under which France would extradite a French citizen to the United States. In response, the MOJ provided the Government with a letter setting forth the relevant law and conclusively stating that France does not extradite its citizens to the United States. That letter in its original French, as well as an English translation of the letter, are attached hereto as Exhibit B. In that letter, the MOJ makes clear that France does not extradite its nationals outside the European Union (regardless of the existence of dual citizenship), including to the United States, and has never derogated from that principle outside the European Union. See Ex. B; see also United States v. Cilins, No. 13 Cr. 315 (WHP), 2013 WL 3802012, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. July 19, 2013) ("Because France refuses to extradite its citizens, Cilins can avoid prosecution on this Indictment if he can reach French soil."). In other words, even assuming the Government could locate the defendant, if she flees to France, her citizenship in that country will completely bar her extradition. Any purported waiver of extradition executed in the United States would not be enforceable against the defendant in France because French law embodies an inflexible principle that its citizens will not be extradited