H.R. 4081: Foreign Adversary Federal Offense Act of 2025

This bill, known as the Foreign Adversary Federal Offense Act of 2025, aims to update U.S. laws regarding economic and defense espionage. Specifically, it proposes the following key changes:

1. Economic Espionage Penalties

The bill amends Section 1831 of title 18 in the U.S. Code, which addresses economic espionage. The main aspects of the amendments are:

• It introduces special penalties for individuals and organizations found guilty of economic espionage that benefits foreign adversaries, defined as covered nations.
• If an individual commits economic espionage:
  • They could face a fine of up to $5 million and a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years, with no eligibility for supervised release.
  • If the offense caused significant harm to the economic or national security, the penalties increase to a fine of up to $5 million and a prison term of 10 to 20 years.
• If an organization is involved, they could face fines of up to $20 million or five times the value of the stolen trade secret, whichever is higher, factoring in costs they avoided from stolen research and design.

2. Definitions of Severe Harm

The bill establishes that an offense will result in severe harm to economic or national security if it involves sharing sensitive, nonpublic information about critical infrastructure. This includes details that could lead to the infrastructure's incapacitation or destruction if acted upon.

3. Defense Information Violations

The legislation also amends Section 793 of title 18 regarding the gathering, transmitting, or losing of defense information. Key changes include:

• For violations committed with the intent to benefit a foreign adversary, offenders face mandatory sentences of 15 years or more, which can extend to life imprisonment.

Relevant Companies

None found