United States v. Russell McLaughlin Jr., in No. 96-1982. United States of America v. Mark McLaughlin in No. 96-2000

126 F.3d 130, 80 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6436, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 26257, 1997 WL 572533
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 11, 1997
Docket96-1982, 96-2000
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 126 F.3d 130 (United States v. Russell McLaughlin Jr., in No. 96-1982. United States of America v. Mark McLaughlin in No. 96-2000) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Russell McLaughlin Jr., in No. 96-1982. United States of America v. Mark McLaughlin in No. 96-2000, 126 F.3d 130, 80 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6436, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 26257, 1997 WL 572533 (3d Cir. 1997).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

SCHWARZER, Senior District Judge.

Russell and Mark McLaughlin (the “McLaughlins”) appeal from their convictions and sentences for income tax evasion. The McLaughlins and their relatives own Building Inspection Underwriters (“BIU”), a close corporation that conducts building inspections for various New Jersey and Pennsylvania municipalities. Russell was president of BIU, and Mark was an officer of the corporation. In 1988, BIU opened two bank accounts, one with New Jersey National Bank (“NJNB”) and the other with First Fidelity Bank (“First Fidelity”). During 1988, over $700,000 in corporate receipts was deposited in each of those accounts. Neither BIU nor the McLaughlins declared the roughly $1,400,000 deposited in the accounts as income on BIU’s 1988 federal tax returns.

Both McLaughlins were convicted of attempting to evade assessment of BIU’s 1988 income taxes in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. Russell was also convicted of subscribing and filing a false 1988 income tax return on behalf of BIU in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). They were acquitted of conspiring to defraud the United States. See 18 U.S.C. § 371. The McLaughlins were sentenced on the basis of an adjusted offense level of 17. The district court sentenced them both to twenty-four months in custody and three years supervised release and fined each $100,000.

[133]*133The district court had jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3231, and we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

I. APPLICATION OF THE FIFTH AMENDMENT PRIVILEGE TO NON-PRODUCTION OF SUBPOENAED DOCUMENTS

In 1989, the IRS served a summons on Russell, in his capacity as BIU’s corporate custodian, requesting production of certain financial records. At trial, the government was permitted to show that Russell produced records and that the production did not include any record of the NJNB account. The government was also allowed to argue that this omission was evidence of intentional evasion of tax assessment.1

Russell contends that admission of this evidence violated his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Relying on Braswell v. United States, 487 U.S. 99, 108 S.Ct. 2284, 101 L.Ed.2d 98 (1988), he argues that because he produced corporate records under compulsion of a subpoena directed to him as corporate custodian, see Baltimore v. Bouknight, 493 U.S. 549, 555-56, 110 S.Ct. 900, 905-06, 107 L.Ed.2d 992 (1990) (quoting Fisher v. United States, 425 U.S. 391, 411, 96 S.Ct. 1569, 1581, 48 L.Ed.2d 39 (1976)); Bellis v. United States, 417 U.S. 85, 94 S.Ct. 2179, 40 L.Ed.2d 678 (1974); Wilson v. United States, 221 U.S. 361, 31 S.Ct. 538, 55 L.Ed. 771 (1911); Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 26 S.Ct. 370, 50 L.Ed. 652 (1906), the Fifth Amendment’s Self-Incrimination Clause barred the government from offering evidence of his personal failure to comply adequately with the subpoena. Russell raised the objection in a motion in limine, which the district court denied by “a definitive ruling ‘with no suggestion that it would reconsider the matter at trial.’” Government of V.I. v. Joseph, 964 F.2d 1380, 1385 (3d Cir.1992) (citing American Home Assur. Co. v. Sunshine Supermarket, Inc., 753 F.2d 321, 325 (3d Cir.1985)). Thus, the issue is properly before us, see United States v. Mejia-Alarcon, 995 F.2d 982, 986 (10th Cir.1993) (citing American Home, 753 F.2d at 324-25), and we exercise plenary review. See In re Grand Jury Subpoena, 957 F.2d 807, 809 (11th Cir.1992).

A. Existence of a Testimonial Privilege

“[B]ecause the act of complying with [a] government [subpoena] testifies to the existence, possession, or authenticity of the things produced,” such production may implicate Fifth Amendment rights. Bouknight, 493 U.S. at 555, 110 S.Ct. at 905; Fisher, 425 U.S. at 410, 96 S.Ct. at 1580-81; Curcio v. United States, 354 U.S. 118, 125, 77 S.Ct. 1145, 1150, 1 L.Ed.2d 1225 (1957). Since a corporate custodian produces documents in his representative rather than his personal capacity, he may not invoke his right against self-incrimination in order to resist a subpoena for corporate records.2 [134]*134Hale, 201 U.S. at 69-70, 26 S.Ct. at 376-77. Thus, in Braswell, the Court wrote that:

[T]he government concede[d], as it must, that it may make no evidentiary use of the “individual act” against the individual.... [T]he Government may not introduce into evidence ... that the subpoena was served upon and the corporation’s documents were delivered by one particular individual, the custodian____ Because the jury is not told that the defendant produced the records, any nexus between the defendant and the documents results solely from the corporation’s act of production and other evidence in the case.

487 U.S. at 118, 108 S.Ct. at 2295.

The government contends that Braswell does not apply here because Braswell concerned production of documents rather than their nonproduction. The distinction is without a difference. The government’s concession in Braswell that it may make no evidentiary use of the “individual act” against the individual is not restricted to material actually produced but is instead broad enough to encompass the implications of production, including its incompleteness. As Justice Kennedy has noted:

An individual who produces documents may be asserting that [the documents] satisfy the general description in the subpoena, or that they were in his possession or under his control. [In either case, those] assertions can convey information about that individual’s knowledge and state of mind as effectively as spoken statements ....

Id. at 122, 108 S.Ct. at 2297 (Kennedy, J., dissenting) (emphasis added); see Fisher, 425 U.S. at 410, 96 S.Ct. at 1580-81; Curcio v. United States, 354 U.S. 118, 125, 77 S.Ct. 1145, 1150, 1 L.Ed.2d 1225 (1957). Thus, the testimonial aspect of production is not limited to the act of handing material over to the government — it also may include the custodian’s exercise of discretion over which material to produce and which to omit. Incomplete production may therefore be as communicative as complete production.

While “[t]he act of producing documents in response to a subpoena ...

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Bluebook (online)
126 F.3d 130, 80 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6436, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 26257, 1997 WL 572533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-russell-mclaughlin-jr-in-no-96-1982-united-states-of-ca3-1997.