In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated November 12, 1991

792 F. Supp. 1423, 1992 WL 104561
District Court, S.D. Florida·Decided February 7, 1992·No. FGJ 91-5·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

ORDER

MARCUS, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court on David L. Paul’s Motion to Quash Subpoena Duces Tecum. David L. Paul is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CenTrust Bank (“CenTrust”). He has been served with two subpoenas, both dated December 19, 1991. One subpoena is clearly directed to Paul in his capacity as custodian of records for CenTrust and other commercial entities; the other subpoena names Paul in his individual capacity. 1 Each subpoena demands “all documents which reflect or relate to” transactions between Paul, CenTrust, a variety of commercial entities involving Paul, and services and goods supplied to various real property and vessels.

Mr. Paul was informed by a letter dated November 12, 1991 that he is the target of a federal grand jury investigation of “violations of federal criminal law arising out of the business and financial activities of Cen-Trust Bank and its related corporations.” Among the crimes being investigated are included bank fraud, misappropriation of bank funds and property and false entries on bank records.

On December 6, 1991 David Paul filed a Motion to Quash Subpoena Duces Tecum. The Motion recites three alternative grounds for quashing the subpoena: (1) compliance will violate Mr. Paul’s fifth amendment privilege against incrimination; (2) the subpoena is overly broad and unduly burdensome; (3) compliance with the subpoena will constitute violation of Fla.Stat. § 655.057, a third degree felony.

After lengthy hearings held December 18-19 this Court entered an ore tenus order denying in part Paul’s motion to quash and ordering partial compliance with the subpoenas. Additionally, Paul was required to submit further information for in camera and ex parte review by the Court. For analytical purposes we divided the subpoenaed documents into several categories. The first group contained clearly corporate documents, 2 including principally certain corporate records of CenTrust and Cen-Trust subsidiaries, documents that under the collective entity doctrine could be compelled from a corporate custodian under Braswell v. United States, 487 U.S. 99, 108 S.Ct. 2284, 101 L.Ed.2d 98 (1988). Also included in the subpoenaed materials were other corporate, non-CenTrust, records. Paul has conceded that among the materials subpoenaed are included what he characterized as “personal copies of various CenTrust records.” Paul’s Memorandum of Law In Support of Motion to Quash, at 3. Paul adds that the majority of the records sought are copies of CenTrust records, “the originals of which are in the possession of a governmental agency, the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC).” Id. at 4. We observe at the outset that, based on our review of all the materials, testimony and evidence presented, it is not at all clear that the RTC is in possession of all *1425 the documents sought by the subpoena. Other categories included documents Paul claimed were purely personal in nature. Still other documents fell into a gray area somewhere in between. See In re Sealed Case, 877 F.2d 83, 87-89 (D.C.Cir.1989), cert. denied, Roe v. United States, 493 U.S. 1044, 110 S.Ct. 839, 107 L.Ed.2d 834 (1990). The primary issue was the United States’ claim that under the collective entity doctrine and Braswell Paul was precluded from asserting the privilege against self-incrimination as to corporate documents he obtained in his .capacity as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of CenTrust. Over the objections of counsel for David Paul, we found Braswell applicable and ordered the production of the CenTrust documents in David Paul’s possession. As to these documents, the clearly corporate documents, the Court ordered Paul to produce the CenTrust documents in three stages, on January 24, 1992, February 14, 1992 and February 28, 1992 in order to facilitate the production. As to the other clearly corporate or collective entity documents, as to which Paul was corporate custodian, Paul was ordered to produce them as well by February 28, 1992. Finally, as to any remaining category or categories of documents encompassed by the subpoena, and directed to Paul, Paul was directed to file ex parte, in camera on or before February 28, 1992 a list of documents withheld pursuant to a claim of privilege and a particularized explanation as to why the privilege is believed to apply. The basis for our ruling was stated on the record on December 19, 1991. That ruling was memorialized in the Court’s Sealed Order of December 23,1991, 3 and its rationale is further explicated now. We begin by observing that the Supreme Court has recently revisited and underscored the historic power and role of the federal grand jury. See United States v. R. Enterprises, Inc., -— U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 722, 112 L.Ed.2d 795 (1991). The Court observed that the grand jury “is an investigatory body *1426 charged with the responsibility of determining whether or not a crime has been committed,” id. Ill S.Ct. at 726, and that “[a]s a necessary consequence of its investigatory function, the grand jury paints with a broad brush.” Id. The Court wrote:

The teaching of the Court’s decisions is clear: A grand jury “may compel the production of evidence or the testimony of witnesses as it considers appropriate, and its operation generally is unrestrained by the technical procedural and evidentiary rules governing the conduct of criminal trials,”....

Id. (quoting United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 343, 94 S.Ct. 613, 617, 38 L.Ed.2d 561 (1974)).

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In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated November 12, 1991, 792 F. Supp. 1423, 1992 WL 104561 (S.D. Fla. 1992).

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