US Prosecutors Face Major Setback in Push to Normalise Use of Testimony Compelled Outside Country

In July 2017, a United States appeals court threw out the convictions of two men charged with Libor manipulation, because key evidence was derived from testimony that had been compelled in the United Kingdom, in violation of their rights under the US Constitution, with potentially broad implications for furture cross-border investigations. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York ruled in US v Allen that the Fifth Amendment priviledge against self-incrimination extends to testimony compelled by other soverign governments. This article exmines the Allen ruling and its likely implications.