United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

____________ FILED August 4, 2023 No. 23-20097 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk

United States of America,

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus

Saman Ahsani; Cyrus Allen Ahsani,

Defendants—Appellees,

versus

The Financial Times Limited; Global Investigations Review; The Guardian,

Intervenors—Appellants. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC Nos. 4:19-CR-147-1, 4:19-CR-147-2 ______________________________

Before Higginbotham, Smith, and Engelhardt, Circuit Judges. Jerry E. Smith, Circuit Judge: For over a decade, brothers and energy consultant executives Saman and Cyrus Ahsani led an international bribery scheme implicating companies Case: 23-20097 Document: 00516847178 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/04/2023

No. 23-20097

and individuals across the globe. In 2019, they pleaded guilty of crimes re- lated to their participation in the enterprise and their attempts to cover it up. Predictably, media interest in the case was substantial. The press’s attempts to report on it, however, were hampered by the fact that almost every document filed with the district court was under seal. Eventually, sev- eral press agencies intervened and successfully moved to unseal—with redactions—almost all the documents in the case up to that point. The practice of sealing many documents persisted, however, all the way through Saman Ahsani’s sentencing in January 2023. Not only were many of the documents filed under seal, but the district court also closed part of the sentencing hearing to the press and public. At the same time, media interest in the case remained high, and the intervening press organizations moved to unseal numerous documents related to the sentencing. The district court denied their motion. On appeal, the intervening organizations maintain that they have both a First Amendment and a common-law right to access at least some of the sealed information. They also challenge the court’s procedures in closing part of the sentencing hearing. Although we acknowledge numerous proce- dural irregularities in the district court, we ultimately affirm its denial of the intervenors’ motion to unseal.

I. Saman and Cyrus Ahsani1 were executives of the Monegasque energy consulting firm Unaoil. They led an international corruption scheme for over a decade, bribing governmental officials in the Middle East, Africa, and Cen- tral Asia to obtain improper business advantages and win contracts from

_____________________ 1 We refer to each brother by his first name for clarity.

2 Case: 23-20097 Document: 00516847178 Page: 3 Date Filed: 08/04/2023

No. 23-20097

foreign governments for Unaoil and numerous multinational oil and gas companies. The scheme had substantial negative impact on the rule of law and po