A British judge cleared the way Thursday for the extradition of U.K. citizen to the United States to face prosecution for charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Bloomberg reported.

District Judge Caroline Tubbs ruled that Jeffrey Tesler, a British lawyer, can be extradited to the United States. Tesler faces prosecution in Houston for his role in allegedly bribing officials of the government of Nigeria to secure contracts in a $6 billion natural gas project.

Tesler allegedly served as the middleman for a consortium bidding for contract to build liquefied natural gas facilities on Nigeria’s Bonny Island. The consortium included included Kellogg, Brown and Root Inc. (KBR), a large engineering and construction company that was formerly part of Halliburton. In his capacity as middleman, Tesler allegedly funneled $132 million in bribes to Nigerian officials through a shell company in Gibraltar.

Tesler was indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston in February 2009. He was charged with one count of conspiring to violate the FCPA and 10 substantive FCPA offenses. In March 2009, Tesler was arrested in London. If convicted of the charges, he faces up to 55 years in prison.

Defense lawyers for Tesler contested his extradition, arguing that his case was not connected to the U.S. because none of the alleged corrupt behavior took place in the country and none of the bribed public officials were American.

Tesler declined to comment to Bloomberg after the hearing. One of Tesler’s lawyers said it “can be taken as a given” that Tesler will appeal the ruling.

The U.S. government’s efforts to extradite Tesler are an example of the Justice Department’s belief that the FCPA has a broad jurisdictional reach. The DOJ is also currently seeking the extradition of Ousama Naaman, a 60-year-old Canadian citizen arrested last year in Germany for paying kickbacks to Iraqi officials in order to obtain contracts for chemical manufacturer Innospec Inc. under the U.N.’s Oil for Food Program.

At a signing ceremony for legal treaties between the United States and European Union, Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday called attention one of the men behind them, Mark Richard, a 40-year veteran of the department who died in May.

Holder called Richard, who served for 16 attorneys general, “the father of our entire international program.”

The treaties, which increase legal assistance between the U.S. and the EU, are the brainchildren of Richard, EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove and EU Minister Hans Nilsson, Holder said in prepared remarks at the Swedish embassy in Washington. Sweden currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

Richard, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division, spent his last seven years at Justice as Counselor to the EU.

“We also want to assure you that there is not a day goes by that lawyers in the Justice Department don’t say to themselves, ‘What would Mark do in this situation?’” Holder said. “He was an inspiration to all of us and his spirit lives on in the Department. We are thrilled that you are here today as we take the final step to bring these agreements, which Mark worked tirelessly to advance, into force.”

Richard’s wife, Sheila Richard, and their children attended the ceremony.

The treaties bring several new tools to bear on international crime and terrorism, including provisions that allow for joint task forces across national lines and allow the parties to acquire evidence, including testimony, via video conference.

Another agreement permits EU member states to refuse to extradite criminals potentially subject to the death penalty.

Roman Polanski is fighting extradition from Switzerland on a 31-year-old sex offense charge. (Getty Images)

Swiss officials have told U.S. authorities that Roman Polanski likely will be extradited to Los Angeles to face sentencing for a 31-year-old crime, according to email records released by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Polanski, 76, is the internationally famous director of such films as “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby.” Last month he was arrested at Zurich’s airport on a fugitive warrant, after had fled the U.S. three decades ago in advance of his sentencing  for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski has argued that the judge in the case was corrupt. He’s moved about openly in Europe since then, and even owns a home in the Swiss resort of Gstaad. Questions have been raised about the timing of the arrest, and whether Switzerland was trying to placate the U.S. after spurning its demands to turn over the names of suspected tax cheats with accounts at Swiss bank UBS AG.

Justice Department officials and Swiss justice officials discussed the extradition in an Oct. 5 conversation, The LA Times reported. In referring to the conversation, Diana Carbajal, a deputy district attorney in the extradition services department, in an email to her supervisor earlier this month wrote, “While the Swiss officials cannot speak for the judge, the extradition will likely be ordered based upon the facts submitted in our papers,” The LA Times reported.

Last week, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office sent a package summarizing the case to DOJ officials in Washington, D.C., which they are expected to pass along to Swiss prosecutors.

Reid Weingarten (Steptoe & Johnson)

According to Carbajal’s email, Swiss officials urged U.S. prosecutors to to address allegations of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct leveled by Polanski’s attorneys, The LA Times reported. Polanski is being represented by Steptoe & Johnson’s Reid Weingarten, a prominent criminal defense lawyer and close friend of Attorney General Eric Holder.

Meanwhile, it turns out that one of the Justice Department officials working on the matter is Nick Marsh, a former member of the Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) prosecution team. Marsh was moved out of the Public Integrity Section earlier this year after he and other Stevens prosecutors came under criminal contempt of court investigation for their handling of evidence.

Marsh landed at the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs, where he’s been dealing with the Swiss on the Polanski matter.

Reid Weingarten (Steptoe & Johnson)

Roman Polanski may have Hollywood on his side, but he’s not betting on Tinseltown to get him out the clink.

The prominent fugitive-director has hired Steptoe & Johnson’s Reid Weingarten, a well-known criminal defense lawyer and close friend of Attorney General Eric Holder.

Polanski,  76, was arrested last weekend at Zurich’s airport on a 31-year-old fugitive warrant issued after he skipped sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. The addition of Weingarten, who has known Holder since the two worked together in the department’s Public Integrity Section in the 1970s, means Polanski now has a powerful advocate in Washington.

The New York Times reports:

The recruiting of Mr. Weingarten was a strong signal that Mr. Polanski’s legal team intends to push hard on the Washington end of the case. Mr. Polanski was arrested on his way to the Zurich Film Festival after Swiss authorities received a letter from the Department of Justice requesting that he be held for possible extradition to the United States.

The Justice Department wrote the letter on behalf of Los Angeles prosecutors. Polanski fled the United States in 1978 after pleading guilty to having sex with a minor. As part of a plea agreement, he avoided other charges, including rape and sodomy. But he was never sentenced.

Weingarten, who declined to comment, will be instrumental in Polanski’s efforts to stop the extradition before the issue wends through the Swiss legal system. As the Times notes, Polanski could argue that his crime does not qualify, because he was sentenced to less than a year in prison, or that he effectively served his sentence during a 42-day psychiatric evaluation.

Weingarten advised Holder during the confirmation process, and he represented Holder in congressional hearings that explored the then-Deputy Attorney General’s role in the controversial pardon by President Clinton of fugitive financier Marc Rich. Weingarten also helped Holder in the founding of the See Forever Foundation, which helps disadvantaged children.