Law360, New York (August 6, 2015, 10:24 AM EDT) -- On July 23, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a precedential opinion in United States v. Sinovel Wind Group Co. Ltd.[1] — one of the few appellate cases to raise the issue of whether the U.S. government can rely on an "alter ego" theory to serve a federal criminal summons on a foreign defendant by way of its U.S.-based subsidiary. The court of appeals ultimately declined to address this question, concluding that it lacked appellate jurisdiction and that the case did not meet the demanding standard of mandamus. By doing so, the Seventh Circuit confirmed federal appellate courts' unwillingness to undertake an early review of whether the U.S. government has properly served a foreign corporate defendant with criminal process, even though the court did not foreclose the availability of such review via mandamus in exceptional circumstances....