United States district court and, if he or she prevails, shall recover threefold the damages sustained, together with the cost of the suit, including reasonable attorneys’ fees. (d) Retroactivity The provisions of subsections (a) through (c) shall apply retroactively. (e) Final judgment A final judgment or decree rendered in favor of the United States in any criminal proceeding brought by the United States under this Chapter shall estop the defendant from denying the essential allegations of the criminal offense in any subsequent civil proceeding brought by under this section. (f) Regulations Within 120 days of the effective date of this Act, the Attorney General of the United States shall promulgate regulations proscribing a means by which the Department of Justice will assist private litigants hereunder to obtain foreign evidence in compliance with the Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters, opened for signature Mar. 18, 1970, 23 U.S.T. 2555, T.I.A.S. No. 7444, 847 U.N.T.S. 241. 7. Statute of limitations (a) Criminal penalties No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for a violation of section 4 unless the indictment is returned or the information is filed within 7 years after the offense was completed. (b) Civil actions No civil suit may be brought under section 6 unless brought within 10 years after the offense was completed. (c) Tolling Upon application of the United States, filed before return of an indictment, indicating that evidence of an offense under section 4 is in a foreign country, the district court before which a grand jury is impaneled to investigate the offense shall suspend the running of the statute of limitations for the offense if the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that an official request has been made for such evidence and that it reasonably appears, or reasonably appeared at the time the request was made, that such evidence is, or was, in such foreign country.