The following excerpt is from Sec. Investor Prot. Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Inv. Sec. LLC (In re Madoff), 480 B.R. 501 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2012):
The FSIA provides the sole basis for obtaining jurisdiction over a foreign state in the courts of this country. Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp., 488 U.S. 428, 443, 109 S.Ct. 683, 102 L.Ed.2d 818 (1989). Under the FSIA, foreign states are presumptively immune from the jurisdiction of United States courts; unless a specified exception applies. Saudi Arabia v. Nelson, 507 U.S. 349, 355, 113 S.Ct. 1471, 123 L.Ed.2d 47 (1993). In the absence of such an exception, federal courts lack subject-matter jurisdiction over claims against foreign states. Id.
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