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including the Trust Agreement" for the period 1970 through 1972 and also "all deeds, options, correspondence, closing statements and sellers statements, escrows, and tax bills pertaining to all property held in the trust at any time during" that period. App. 9-16. Respondent Joseph W. Lang, a vice president of the bank, appeared in response to the summonses but, on advice of counsel, refused to produce any of the materials requested. Brief for Respondents 2.

The United States and Olivero, pursuant to §§ 7402 (b) and 7604 (a) of the Code, 26 U. S. C. §§ 7402 (b) and 7604 (a),* then petitioned the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for enforcement of the summonses. App. 5. This was on November 11, 1975. Olivero testified that when the petition was filed he had not determined whether criminal charges were justified and had not made any report or recommendation about the case to his superiors. Id., at 30. It was alleged in the petition and in an incorporated exhibit that the requested materials were necessary for the determination of the tax liability of Gattuso for the years in question and that the information contained in the documents was not in the possession of the petitioners. Id., at 7, 17-18. The District Court entered an order to show cause, id., at 19, and respondents answered through counsel, who also represented Gattuso. Id., at 20-22.

* Section 7402 (b) states:

"If any person is summoned under the internal revenue laws to appear, to testify, or to produce books, papers, or other data, the district court of the United States for the district in which such person resides or may be found shall have jurisdiction by appropriate process to compel such attendance, testimony, or production of books, papers, or other data." Section 7604 (a) reads:

"If any person is summoned under the internal revenue laws to appear, to testify, or to produce books, papers, records, or other data, the United States district court for the district in which such person resides or is found shall have jurisdiction by appropriate process to compel such attendance, testimony, or production of books, papers, records, or other data."

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At the ensuing hearing and in a post-hearing brief, respondents argued that Olivero's investigation was "purely criminal" in nature. Id., at 82. Gregory J. Perry, a lawyer specializing in federal taxation and employed by the same law firm that filed the answer, testified that in June 1975 Olivero told him that the Gattuso investigation "was strictly related to criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code." Id., at 52. Respondents conceded that they bore the burden of proving that enforcement of the suminonses would abuse the court's process, but they contended that they did not have to show "that there is no civil purpose to the Summons." Id., at 87. Instead, they urged that their burden was to show that the summonses were not issued in good faith because "the investigation is solely for the purpose of gathering evidence for use in a criminal prosecution." Id., at 77.

The District Court agreed with respondents' contentions. Although at the hearing the court seemed to recognize "that in any criminal investigation there's always a probability of civil tax liability," id., at 61, it focused its attention on the purpose of Special Agent Olivero:

"I'll say now that I heard nothing in Agent Olivero's testimony to suggest that the thought of a civil investigation ever crossed his mind.

"Now, unless I find something in the in camera inspection [of the IRS case file] that gives more support to the Government position than the Agent's testimony did, it would be my conclusion that he was at all times involved in a criminal investigation, at least in his own mind." 5 Id., at 62.

The District Court was aware of and recognized the Government's contention that the individual agent's motive in the investigation was not dispositive:

"The COURT: . . . [U]nder your theory any criminal investigation would

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In its written memorandum, the District Court noted that Donaldson permitted the use of an IRS summons issued in good faith and prior to a recommendation for criminal prosecution. Relying on dictum in Reisman v. Caplin, 375 U. S. 440, 449 (1964), however, the court said that it was an improper use of the summons "to serve it solely for the purpose of obtaining evidence for use in a criminal prosecution." 76-1 USTC, at 84,072, 37 AFTR 2d, at 76-1240. If, at the time of its issuance, the summons served this proscribed purpose, the court concluded, the absence of a formal criminal recommendation was irrelevant, the summons was not issued in good faith, and enforcement was precluded. The court then held:

"It is apparent from the evidence that Special Agent John F. Olivero in his investigative activities had focused upon the possible criminal activities of John Gattuso, and was conducting his investigation solely for the purpose of unearthing evidence of criminal conduct by Mr. Gattuso." Id., at 84,073, 37 AFTR 2d, at 76-1240.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed. 554 F. 2d 302 (1977). It concluded that the District Court correctly had included the issue of criminal purpose within the good-faith inquiry:

"[T]he use of an administrative summons solely for

not really be one until they closed it because there was always a possibility of a civil liability.

"If that's the law, you're in trouble, Mr. Cushner [counsel for respondents].

"I think it boils down to an issue of law so it's the cases really that I'm interested in plus any further clues I may find in the in camera inspection of the investigative file." App. 61-62.

The court agreed to inspect the IRS investigative file in camera after it refused to permit respondents to inspect the file. Id., at 50-51, 61-62.

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criminal purposes is a quintessential example of bad faith. . . .

"We note that the district court formulated its factual finding by use of the expression 'sole criminal purpose' rather than by a label such as 'bad faith.' We find no basis for reversible error in that verbal formulation. The district court grasped the vital core of Donaldson and rendered its factual finding consistently therewith." Id., at 309.

The Court of Appeals further decided that the District Court had reached a factual, rather than a legal, conclusion when it found the summonses to have been issued solely for a criminal prosecution. Id., at 305. Appellate review, accordingly, was limited to application of the clearly-erroneous standard. Id., at 306. Although the Court of Appeals noted that Olivero had testified about the existence of a civil purpose for the investigation, the court said that "the record establishes that the district court did not believe him." Id., at 309. The appellate court could not reverse the trial court's judgment, it said, because it was "not left with a firm and definite conviction that a mistake [had] been made." Id., at 306.

Because of the importance of the issue in the enforcement of the internal revenue laws, and because of conflict among the Courts of Appeals concerning the scope of IRS summons authority under § 7602, we granted certiorari. 434 U. S. 996 (1977).

• Compare United States v. Hodge & Zweig, 548 F. 2d 1347, 1350-1351 (CA9 1977); United States v. Zack, 521 F. 2d 1366, 1368 (CA9 1975); United States v. McCarthy, 514 F. 2d 368, 374-375 (CA3 1975); United States v. Weingarden, 473 F. 2d 454, 460 (CA6 1973); United States v. Wall Corp., 154 U. S. App. D. C. 309, 311, 475 F. 2d 893, 895 (1972); and United States v. Billingsley, 469 F. 2d 1208, 1210 (CA10 1972), with United States v. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., 572 F. 2d 36, 41-42 (CA2 1978); and United States v. Troupe, 438 F. 2d 117, 119 (CA8 1971),

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In Donaldson v. United States, 400 U. S. 517 (1971), an IRS special agent issued summonses to a taxpayer's putative former employer and its accountant for the production of the employer's records of the taxpayer's employment and compensation. When the records were not forthcoming, the IRS petitioned for the enforcement of the summonses. The taxpayer intervened and eventually appealed the enforcement order. This Court addressed the taxpayer's contention that the summonses were unenforceable because they were issued in aid of an investigation that could have resulted in a criminal charge against the taxpayer. His argument there, see id., at 532, was based on the following dictum in Reisman v. Caplin, 375 U. S., at 449:

"[T]he witness may challenge the summons on any appropriate ground. This would include, as the circuits have held, the defenses that the material is sought for the improper purpose of obtaining evidence for use in a criminal prosecution, Boren v. Tucker, 239 F. 2d 767, 772-773...."

In the light of the citation to Boren," the Court in Donaldson concluded that the dictum referred and was applicable to "the situation of a pending criminal charge or, at most, of an investigation solely for criminal purposes." 400 U. S., at 533.

regarding the conflict about whether the recommendation for criminal prosecution is dispositive of the so-called criminal purpose issue.

Compare United States v. Hodge & Zweig, 548 F. 2d, at 1351; and United States v. Billingsley, 469 F. 2d, at 1210, with United States v. Lafko, 520 F. 2d 622, 625 (CA3 1975), regarding the conflict about whether the criminal recommendation from the IRS to the Department of Justice or the recommendation from the special agent to his superiors is important in the enforcement inquiry.

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"In Boren v. Tucker, 239 F. 2d 767, 772-773 (1956), the Ninth Circuit distinguished United States v. O'Connor, 118 F. Supp. 248 (Mass. 1953), which involved an investigation of a taxpayer already under indictment.

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