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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 204 Filed 04/16/21 Page 46 of 239

respects from those underlying contract law, the district court concluded that “third-party
beneficiaries have no contractual right to enforce plea agreements.” Id. at *3-4. The court
reasoned, “[t]he right to enforce a plea deal does not exist for its own sake; rather, it is a means to
achieve fairness in plea bargaining.” Id. at *4. That is because a defendant has the right to enforce
his plea agreement, and “enforcement by third parties adds nothing to protecting the defendant’s
right.” Id. The same holds true here.

In support of her claim that she has standing to enforce the NPA, the defendant relies upon
three district court decisions, none of which analyzed the threshold question of whether third party
standing concepts from contract law apply to plea agreements. In United States v. Florida West
Int’l Airways, Inc., 853 F. Supp. 2d 1209, 1228 (S.D. Fla. 2012), the district court applied the third
party beneficiary doctrine to a former airline employee based on a prior plea agreement with the
airline that immunized, among others, current and former employees of the airline and its
subsidiaries. In its analysis, however, the court applied the doctrine without analyzing the question
of whether third party beneficiary standing principles apply to plea agreements. Id. For similar
reasons, the defendant’s reliance on United States v. El-Sadig, 133 F. Supp. 2d 600, 608-09 (N.D.
Ohio 2001) is misplaced. In that case, the court permitted a third party to invoke a plea agreement,
but it did not analyze or address whether third party standing rules apply to plea agreements. Id.
Likewise, in United States v. CFW Const. Co., 583 F. Supp. 197, 203 (D.S.C. 1984), the court
applied the third party beneficiary doctrine, but relied solely on contracts treatises for support, and
did not analyze whether that doctrine should be applied to plea agreements.

In any event, even if third party beneficiaries had standing to enforce federal plea
agreements, the defendant has failed to establish that she is a third party beneficiary of the NPA.
In order to establish that she has enforceable rights under the NPA, the defendant must show that

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