I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7205 
To take certain measures against countries that fail to satisfy judgments 
totaling more than $1,000,000 entered against them in courts in the 
United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas (for herself and Mr. TOWNS) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 
and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To take certain measures against countries that fail to sat-
isfy judgments totaling more than $1,000,000 entered 
against them in courts in the United States. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Judgment Evading 
Foreign States Accountability Act of 2008’’. 
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SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to protect the economic 
interests of the United States and its citizens from the 
irresponsible conduct of certain foreign states, and agen-
cies and instrumentalities of such states, that willfully 
refuse to satisfy United States court judgments. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Foreign states and instrumentalities that do 
business or raise capital in the United States, and 
then refuse to satisfy judgments of United States 
courts entered against them in connection with dis-
putes resulting from these activities, inflict billions 
of dollars of damage on United States taxpayers, 
and undermine the credibility of the United States 
courts. 
(2) The Republic of Argentina is a recent and 
egregious example of such behavior. Argentina has 
borrowed tens of billions of dollars in the United 
States capital markets through the issuance of 
bonds, notes, and other securities pursuant to which 
it agreed to be subject to the jurisdiction of the 
United States courts in actions relating to those 
bonds notes and securities, and both waived and 
pledged not to assert immunity in such actions. Ar-
gentina defaulted on its debt to foreign creditors in 
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2001, and scores of judgments, totaling more than 
$2,000,000,000, have been entered against it by the 
United States courts based on its default. Rather 
than satisfy these obligations, Argentina has ex-
pressed its intention never to pay any of the result-
ing judgments. 
(3) Since its default in 2001, Argentina’s econ-
omy has recovered dramatically. This recovery has 
enabled Argentina to accumulate foreign exchange 
reserves worth tens of billions of dollars, and to use 
those reserves to pay some creditors preferentially 
over United States citizens and holders of United 
States court judgments. 
(4) Other foreign states have expressed interest 
in following Argentina’s lead. For example, the Re-
public of Ecuador has recently threatened to default 
on and repudiate part of its sovereign debt, citing 
Argentina’s default approvingly as a precedent. 
(5) Foreign states that engage in such behavior 
can infect the management of businesses within 
their borders with their profligate and irresponsible 
habits. When the lax ethical standards that permit 
government officials to flout lawful judgments cor-
rupt the corporate behavior as well, the injury to 
United States taxpayers is intensified. 
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(6) United States taxpayers who are injured by 
such irresponsible conduct often have little or no re-
course. The existing laws of the United States are 
highly protective of foreign states, and public and 
private corporations of judgment evading foreign 
states often enjoy a safe haven within their home 
country’s borders from those who are injured by 
their behavior. 
(7) Action by the United States Government to 
combat this growing problem must include measures 
that both protect United States taxpayers against 
the irresponsible conduct of judgment evading for-
eign states and their domestic corporations, and mo-
tivate such states and corporations to raise their 
standards of behavior. 
(8) An effective means of achieving this impor-
tant objective without impinging on the President’s 
freedom to act in the foreign policy arena is to de-
prive judgment evading foreign states and their do-
mestic corporations of the privilege of raising capital 
in the United States until those states demonstrate 
that such measures are no longer necessary by satis-
fying all outstanding judgments of the United States 
courts. 
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SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act: 
(1) JUDGMENT
EVADING
FOREIGN
STATE.— 
The term ‘‘judgment evading foreign state’’ means 
any foreign state that— 
(A) has one or more judgments entered 
against the foreign state by any United States 
district court or the court of any State, the 
combined amount of which exceeds $1,000,000; 
and 
(B) fails to satisfy in full any such judg-
ment for a period of more than 6 months after 
the judgment becomes a final judgment. 
(2) DOMESTIC CORPORATION OF A JUDGMENT 
EVADING
FOREIGN
STATE.—The term ‘‘domestic 
corporation of a judgment evading foreign state’’ 
means any corporation or entity, other than a nat-
ural person— 
(A) that is organized under the laws of a 
judgment evading foreign state; or 
(B) a majority of the shares or other own-
ership interest of which is held, either directly 
or indirectly, by a judgment evading foreign 
state, or by one or more corporations or entities 
that is organized under the laws of a judgment 
evading foreign state. 
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(3) FINAL JUDGMENT.—The term ‘‘final judg-
ment’’ means any judgment of a United States dis-
trict court or the court of any State, that is no 
longer eligible to be appealed to any court in the 
United States. 
(4) FOREIGN STATE.—The term ‘‘foreign state’’ 
has the meaning given that term in 1603(a) of title 
28, United States Code. 
(5) INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘‘international organization’’ means an entity des-
ignated by the President as being entitled to enjoy 
the privileges, exemptions, and immunities provided 
by the International Organizations Immunities Act 
(22 U.S.C. 288 et seq.). 
(6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, and any 
commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 
States. 
SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It shall be the policy of the United States— 
(1) to advocate within the governing bodies of 
international organizations and in other foreign pol-
icy settings for the full compensation and fair treat-
ment of United States citizens and other persons in 
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whose favor judgments have been awarded by the 
United States courts; 
(2) to seek to protect the economic interests of 
United States taxpayers by restricting the access to 
the United States capital markets of judgment evad-
ing foreign states, and subjecting to Congressional 
scrutiny requests for aid made by judgment evading 
foreign states to the United States Government; 
(3) to seek to protect the authority of the 
United States courts by preventing judgment evad-
ing foreign states from willfully flouting the judg-
ments of those courts; and 
(4) to enforce a series of mandatory penalties, 
increasing over time, to prevent judgment evading 
foreign states from engaging in such misconduct. 
SEC. 6. BAR ON ACCESS TO UNITED STATES CAPITAL MAR-
KETS. 
The Securities and Exchange Commission shall take 
all effective measures to deny every judgment evading for-
eign state access to United States capital markets, includ-
ing the ability, directly or indirectly, to borrow or sell secu-
rities in the United States unless the proceeds of such bor-
rowing or sale are to be used, in the first instance, to sat-
isfy in full all final judgments that form the basis for that 
foreign state’s designation as a judgment evading foreign 
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state. If any judgment evading foreign state remains in 
default on any such final judgment for more than 2 years, 
the Securities and Exchange Commission shall take all 
measures to deny any domestic corporation of a judgment 
evading foreign state access to the United States capital 
markets. 
SEC. 7. REQUESTS FOR AID OR ASSISTANCE FROM JUDG-
MENT EVADING FOREIGN STATES. 
(a) BILATERAL ASSISTANCE.—Whenever any pro-
posal is made to a department, agency, or other instru-
mentality of the United States Government to extend aid, 
a loan, or any other form of assistance to a judgment 
evading foreign state, the head of the department, agency, 
or other instrumentality may consider the proposal only 
if it bears prominently the legend described in subsection 
(c). 
(b) MULTILATERAL
ASSISTANCE.—Whenever any 
proposal is made to an international organization of which 
the United States is a member to extend aid, a loan, or 
any other form of assistance to a judgment evading for-
eign state, the Secretary of State shall provide notice of 
such proposal to the Congress in a prompt manner. Such 
notice shall bear prominently the legend described in sub-
section (c). 
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(c) LEGEND DESCRIBED.—The legend of a proposal 
referred to in subsection (a) and the legend of a notice 
referred to in subsection (b) is the following: ‘‘REQUEST 
FOR GRANT-IN-AID OR LOAN BY A JUDGMENT 
EVADING FOREIGN STATE’’. 
SEC. 8. REPORTS; RECOMMENDATIONS OF ADDITIONAL 
MEASURES. 
(a) REPORT.—Not later than January 31 of each 
year, the Secretary of the Treasury shall provide a report, 
in writing, to the Congress identifying each judgment 
evading foreign state, and, for each such judgment evad-
ing foreign state— 
(1) setting forth the basis of the Secretary’s de-
termination that it meets the definition of judgment 
evading foreign state; 
(2) quantifying the impact on the United States 
economy, and the cost to United States taxpayers, of 
the unsatisfied final judgments that form the basis 
for the foreign state’s designation as a judgment 
evading foreign state; and 
(3) describing all measures that the Depart-
ment of the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, 
the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Com-
modity Futures Trading Commission, and represent-
atives of the United States before international orga-
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nizations have taken in the preceding year to carry 
out this Act. 
(b) TERMINATION OF DESIGNATION AS JUDGMENT 
EVADING FOREIGN STATE.—At such time as the Sec-
retary of the Treasury determines that a foreign state no 
longer qualifies as a judgment evading foreign state, the 
Secretary shall so certify to the Congress no later than 
in the next annual report to Congress under subsection 
(a), at which time the requirements and prohibitions 
under this Act shall no longer apply to such former judg-
ment evading foreign state. 
(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF OTHER DEPARTMENTS.— 
In every report prepared by the Secretary of State, the 
Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary of Commerce 
for the public relating to the economic risk or investment 
climate of a judgment evading foreign state, such Sec-
retary shall reference the findings of the Secretary of the 
Treasury from the Secretary of the Treasury’s most recent 
annual report to Congress under subsection (a) relating 
to the unsatisfied final judgments outstanding against the 
judgment evading foreign state. 
(d) RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS.—The Sec-
retary of the Treasury shall provide to the Congress writ-
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