News Corp is a US company, which owns News International. James Murdoch, Rupert's son who runs News International, may have directed News International to pay bribes to UK police. According to the Guardian:
The payments could leave News Corp – and possibly James Murdoch himself – facing the possibility of prosecution in the US under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) – legislation designed to stamp out bad corporate behaviour that carries severe penalties for anyone found guilty of breaching it....
The 1977 Act generally prohibits American companies and citizens from corruptly paying – or offering to pay – foreign officials.
All of James Murdoch's assets can be seized if he's found guilty of violating this act:
In 2009 the former Hollywood movie producer Gerald Green and his wife, Patricia, were jailed for six months in the first criminal case under the FCPA. The Greens, whose credits included Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn, were convicted of paying $1.8m in bribes to a government official in Thailand in exchange for contracts to manage the Bangkok international film festival.
FCPA charges can carry up to five years in jail for each charge but the Greens' short prison sentence was not the harshest element of their sentencing. The "biggest hammer" prosecutors hold is forfeiture of assets, said Fox. "The Greens lost everything. Their house, savings, retirement plan. They are destitute now."
So, does US law apply to a Murdoch? Will our Justice Department even join the investigation into the criminal activities of a family and its corporation, which have leveraged those activities into substantial control of politics in both the UK and the US?
I could put a poll here, but I think we know what local opinion will be: That our Justice Department holds with no such definition of "justice," that the privilege of the ultra-rich and ultra-connected is absolute. Still, if our president, unable to do anything for the sorry state of our economy, truly wants to gain popular support, and prove he doesn't favor our overlords no matter how criminal their activity, this could be a perfect target for the sword of justice.
Plus it would drive Fox News and the WSJ so far over the frothing-at-the-mouth top as to render the messages in their screams indecipherable.