When he was detained by the Americans, he initially felt that it was just a misunderstanding or a "teacup controversy". Alstom's legal staff would negotiate and be detained for at most two days before he could leave. To his surprise, this was the beginning of his nightmare.
It was not until September 2018 that he finally emerged from prison, and his true target of being "hunted" was Alstom, a business giant that once spanned the global power, energy, and transportation industries, which had been "dismembered" by Americans.
Imprisonment
After acquiring AEG Germany's transmission and distribution business in 1998, Alstom jumped to second place in the global transmission and distribution industry. Alstom has also merged with CEGELEC, a leader in electrical engineering contracting and industrial control systems, resulting in a significant increase in Alstom's strength.
At that time, Alstom had an annual revenue of over 16 billion US dollars and had 110000 employees. The company's business covers more than 60 countries and regions worldwide, becoming a leader in energy, transmission and distribution transportation, industrial equipment, engineering contracting, and ship equipment.
Alstom has multiple "world firsts" in the energy sector: world number one in hydroelectric equipment, world number one in conventional nuclear power plants, and world number one in environmental control systems. Alstom is also the world's number one in the ultra high speed train and high-speed train industry. In the urban transportation market, regional trains, infrastructure equipment, and all related service areas, the company ranks second in the world.
A popular saying at the time was that out of every four light bulbs in the world, one bulb's electricity came from Alstom's technology.
In terms of energy, Alstom provides equipment that accounts for 15% of the world's total installed capacity, totaling 460 megawatts, ranking second in the world. At that time, many of China's energy and transmission and transformation equipment were products of Alstom, including some equipment in the Three Gorges Dam. This has made another giant in the industry, General Electric, feel challenged.
Going back to 2013, Pierucci was already the Vice President of International Sales at Alstom in France. This Frenchman, who has gradually transitioned from an industrial equipment salesperson to a vice president position, has a burly physique, a broad forehead, and a strong French accent.
On April 14th of that year, he arrived at Kennedy International Airport in New York and was arrested by FBI agents as soon as he got off the plane. As a senior executive of a multinational corporation, Pierucci was not too panicked at the time. He quickly declared that he needed to make a phone call and then told his immediate supervisor about his situation. The answer he received was that the company's lawyer would immediately get him out.
This Frenchman knows that his employer Alstom has been targeted by US judicial authorities due to fierce competition with General Electric in the global market, which can be described as "sparks flying everywhere". But based on previous experience, he was likely to be released on bail, so he didn't even tell his wife because he didn't think it would delay his return to China and his family's weekend.
However, he underestimated the means of Americans and also underestimated their ruthlessness. He didn't even expect to be dressed in an orange prison uniform, with iron chains pressed against his chest and shackles locking his hands and feet.
