In the first case to bring the issue of the definition of an “instrumentality of a foreign government” in front of an appellate court, the DOJ has replied to Joel Esquenazi and Carlos Rodriguez’s (Defendants’) opening brief.  The Defendants have argued that Teleco, a firm that provides telephone service to Haiti and that was owned by the Haitian national bank at the time of the alleged bribery, was not an instrumentality of the Haitian government because Teleco did not perform a government function.  Defendants were convicted of bribing employees of Teleco to retain business for their Florida-based communications company.  In its brief filed August 21, 2012, the DOJ says that the Defendants’ argument “contravenes bedrock principles of statutory construction and is unsupported by legislative history.”