Aluminium Bahrain Racketeering Case Against Alcoa Reopened - Bloomberg

A racketeering lawsuit filed by Bahrain’s state-owned aluminum producer against Alcoa Inc. (AA), the largest U.S. aluminum producer, was reopened by a U.S. judge.

Aluminium Bahrain BSC, known as Alba, sued in February 2008, claiming that New York-based Alcoa bribed senior officials in Bahrain and caused Alba to pay inflated prices for alumina, the principal raw material in aluminum. A month later, U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose administratively closed the case in federal court in Pittsburgh after the U.S. Justice Department said it was investigating whether Alcoa made corrupt payments in Bahrain.

Alcoa asked Ambrose last month to reopen the case and sought permission to file a motion seeking its dismissal because racketeering law “does not apply to the extraterritorial conduct” alleged by Alba.

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