Opinion ID: 3040536
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: CTGEI’s $7 Million Payment To The Congo For

Text: The Acquisition Of SCLOG. According to Af-Cap, CTGEI’s obligation “to make payments of over $7 million to the Congo in exchange for 25% of the shares in the commercial joint venture” was “integral to the commercial activity” and, therefore, used for it. Af-Cap also declares that the joint venture was formed as a result of “substantial activities” in the United States and that substanthe appellant could garnish the tax and royalty obligation previously assigned to the insurance company. Instead, we read Af-Cap to hold that the post-August 2002 obligation did not belong to the insurance company; it was the Congo’s property, and, as “[t]he property . . . of a foreign state,” it was subject to garnishment. 28 U.S.C. § 1610(a). In this case, by contrast, the district court found that the property at issue is not the Congo’s, but COCL’s, a determination in which we perceive no clear error. Therefore, the property may not be garnished under § 1610(a). AF-CAP v. CHEVRONTEXACO 1003 tial activities pertaining to the operation of the joint venture took place in the United States.8 We reject Af-Cap’s contention that the joint venture, located entirely in the Congo, constitutes commercial activity in the United States. Property that is “integral to” but not “used for” commercial activity in the United States does not meet the requirements of § 1610(a). See id. (explaining that the phrase “used for” is different from, and more specific than, the phrase “integral to”). In addition, “[w]hat matters under the statute is what the property is ‘used for,’ not how it was generated or produced,” id. at 251, and not whether the property has a “nexus or connection to a commercial activity in the United States.” Id. at 254. Accordingly, whether the joint venture was formed as a result of substantial activities in the United States or whether substantial activities involving the operation of the joint venture took place in the United States is of no import.