In re April 1977 Grand Jury Proceedings

506 F. Supp. 1174, 48 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5715, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10588
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJanuary 14, 1981
DocketMisc. No. 77-144
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 506 F. Supp. 1174 (In re April 1977 Grand Jury Proceedings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re April 1977 Grand Jury Proceedings, 506 F. Supp. 1174, 48 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5715, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10588 (E.D. Mich. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CHURCHILL, District Judge.

The government has filed a motion that the Court order certain documents subpoenaed before the April, 1977 grand jury, specified grand jury transcripts and grand jury work papers, to be disclosed to representatives of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for civil use in the ascertainment, assessment, and collection 1 of the revenue pursuant to Rule 6(e)(3)(C)(i), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which provides as follows:

“Disclosure otherwise prohibited by this rule of matters occurring before the grand jury may also be made - - -
(i) when so directed by a court preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding....”

Although 6(e) motions are frequently ex parte, the Court invited counsel for General Motors Corporation2 to brief and argue the issues.

At the conclusion of oral argument on December 19, 1980, the Court orally denied the government’s motion because, in the opinion of the Court, the use to be made of the material by the IRS is not preliminary to a judicial proceeding within the meaning of Rule 6(e).

The government’s motion for disclosure under 6(e) is a step in a chain of events beginning with the IRS’s examination of General Motors income tax returns for the calendar year 1972-1973. The IRS examination was suspended in April, 1977, when a grand jury—referred to in In re April 1977 Grand Jury Subpoenas, 573 F.2d 936 (6th Cir. 1978), and in In re April 1977 Grand Jury Subpoenas, 584 F.2d 1366 (6th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 934, 99 S.Ct. 1277, 59 L.Ed.2d 492 (1979)—began investigating allegedly false statements made by General Motors’ employees to the IRS concerning expense materials. The grand jury investigation was suspended in April, 1978, upon release of the court of appeals’ panel opinion. Upon denial of certiorari by the Supreme Court from the en banc opinion in February, 1979, the Justice Department was in a position to reinstitute its grand jury investigation. It elected not to do so. Finally, in the spring of 1980, the government informed General Motors and the Court that the grand jury investigation was terminated without indictment. The IRS examination resumed, in part, at that time, although that portion of the IRS examination concerning the expense materials issue has not yet begun. It is grand jury documents and transcripts on the expense material issue that the government now seeks to disclose under 6(e). General Motors Corporation and the individuals whom its counsel also represent oppose the entry of a disclosure order.

The practical importance of the issue framed by the government’s motion and the opposition thereto may be demonstrated by statistics recited by counsel for the government at oral argument. The grand jury subpoenaed between 200,000 and 300,000 pages of material, which were stamped, numbered, and analyzed by attorneys for the government together with IRS agents assisting them. Approximately 33,000 hours of IRS time were consumed by IRS agents in the performance of this task. Over 100 witnesses were called before the grand jury. The transcripts of their testimony approximate 30,000 pages. The civil examination involves a potential dispute of approximately (according to the government) $300 million in income tax liability. By its motion the government seeks disclosure of transcripts of 28 selected witnesses and a limited but substantial number of subpoenaed documents.

[1177]*1177The government must establish three things to be entitled to the grant of its disclosure motion: First, that the grand jury investigation was conducted to ascertain whether or not violations of crimin.1 law had occurred, and not as a subterfuge to obtain grand jury records for a civil investigation or proceeding, In re Grand Jury Subpoenas April 1978, 581 F.2d 1103, 1110 (4th Cir. 1978); second, that disclosure of grand jury records to the IRS would be preliminary to a judicial proceeding, Fed.R. Crim.P. 6(e)(3)(C)(i); and third, that the IRS has a particularized need for the records, United States v. Procter & Gamble Co., 356 U.S. 677, 683, 78 S.Ct. 983, 2 L.Ed.2d 107 (1958).

I. Purpose(s) of Grand Jury Investigation

It was established in prior proceedings that one of the objectives of initiating the grand jury investigation was to create a pool of data to be used for civil purposes upon the filing of a 6(e) disclosure motion. The IRS’s overwhelming generalized need for the grand jury records disclosed in the present proceedings reaffirms this conclusion. Such need and the government’s present frustration at the prospect of not being able to use the fruits of the grand jury investigation for civil purposes are apparent in the following argument distilled from the government’s brief:

“The documents and transcripts sought represent the distillation of over nine months of work by government attorneys and agents assisting them in the performance of their duties. Duplication of this effort would similarly require months of effort, a course of action disapproved by the courts. See, e. g., In Re Grand Jury, Miscellaneous No. 979, 583 F.2d 123 [128] 131 (5th Cir. 1978). Such duplication of effort, even if attempted, would not be successful. The size of General Motors Corporation and the complexity of the nonproductive materials issue militate against even experienced civil tax investigators without the benefit of the grand jury information having the ability and fortune to identify, seek out, and obtain the specific information contained within the selected materials. Of the many thousands of General Motors employees only a relatively small number could provide testimony relevant to the nonproductive materials issue. Without the names and testimony of individuals whose testimony is pertinent and who have testified before the grand jury, the Internal Revenue Service, would be unable to identify those who could provide relevant testimony and would have to embark upon a futile search. It is untenable to rely upon the adversary, General Motors, to proffer ‘representative’ individuals to provide the testimony sought. * * * ”

The more difficult question is whether the government in good faith also initiated and in fact conducted the grand jury investigation in pursuit of crime. Under our income tax system the principal difference between mere civil liability for taxes in excess of tax disclosed by a taxpayer’s return and civil liability coupled with criminal liability is usually the taxpayer’s state of mind. Most tax crimes involve the failure to disclose information or the submission of false information. It would be an unusual case in which the government was investigating a potentially large deficiency when it could not make a convincing argument that it wished to investigate the possibility of crime.

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506 F. Supp. 1174, 48 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5715, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10588, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-april-1977-grand-jury-proceedings-mied-1981.