Is there a pattern to the U.S. offensive against a private company? 

Over the past few decades, American authorities have targeted large foreign firms, subjecting them to extra-territorial actions under the charge of misconduct, typically corruption or breaching sanctions.

One case that stood out was the French power and transportation company Alstom. In April 2013, its former senior executive Frederic Pierucci was handcuffed at New York's JFK airport, the start of a five-year nightmare for him. 

The arrest came as Alstom was swirled in a protracted tussle with American authorities over bribery allegations. The 51-year-old was accused of paying local officials in securing a 118-million-U.S. dollar Indonesian power plant contract. Pierucci later said the practice was conducted under clearly defined procedures approved by company leadership.

Later in 2014, Alstom pleaded guilty and agreed to pay 772 million U.S. dollars in fines, which at that time was the largest criminal penalty ever handed down under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Pierucci was released last September, and published a book called "the American Trap" to reveal more details from that episode. He contends his own legal process and incarceration were dragged out to pressure Patrick Kron, who was back then the CEO of Alstom, to push the GE-Alstom deal behind the French government's back.

Following Pierucci's arrest, the American power company successfully secured a 14-billion-U.S. dollar deal to eat up Alstom's energy business.

Though the deal brought together two of the world's biggest manufacturers of power plant hardware, it nevertheless took away Alstom's core assets, and its glory was gone. 

Former French Economy Minister and now president, Emmanuel Macron, told lawmakers in 2015 that he was convinced there was a link between the American probe and Kron's backing of the transaction. He said, "I don't know whether the investigation weighed psychologically on Mr. Kron."

Ironically, that acquisition turned out to be a big disappointment for the U.S. group, which reported a majority of its 23-billion-U.S. dollar write-down last year.

A similar plot 30 years ago… Japan's Toshiba was accused of selling militarily sensitive technology to the Soviet Union, compromising the U.S. and its allies' security. The anger of American officials led to the resignation of the President of the parent company, Toshiba Corporation, and a fine of two million Yen.

Some analysts say what was really behind that attack was the U.S. believing that the Japanese semiconductor industry had threatened its economic interest, and challenged the technological hegemony of the United States. Whether or not that's true, it does serve as a cautionary tale for multinationals 30 years later.