In re Twelve Grand Jury Suboenas, No. 17-17213 (9th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's order holding the record custodian for various collective entities in contempt for his failure to comply with an order to respond to twelve grand jury subpoenas. The panel held that Braswell v. United States, 487 U.S. 99, 104 (1988), remained good law. The panel further held that the Fifth Amendment provides no protection to a collective entity's records custodians—and that the size of the collective entity and the extent to which a jury would assume that the individual seeking to assert the privilege produced the documents are not relevant. Therefore, the custodian's challenge to the contempt order failed.
Court Description: Grand Jury Subpoenas The panel affirmed the district court’s order holding an appellant in contempt for his failure to comply with the court’s order to respond to twelve grand jury subpoenas in his capacity as a records custodian for various collective entities. Appellant contended that because the corporations and limited liability companies were small, closely-held entities for which he was either the sole shareholder or sole employee, or was solely responsible for accounting and recordkeeping, he could invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to resist producing those collective entities’ documents. The panel held that Braswell v. United States, 487 U.S. 99, 104 (1988), remained good law. The panel further held that there were no circumstances under which a records custodian could resist a subpoena for a collective entity’s records on Fifth Amendment grounds, and that the size of the collective entity, and the extent to which a jury would assume that the individual seeking to assert the privilege produced the documents, were not relevant.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.