Petition — King v. United States
Supreme Court brief1977
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IN THE
Supreme Court of the United States
October Term, 1977
No. 2¢-463
A. ROWLAND BOUCHER,
Petitioner,
Vv.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondents.
PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
NORMAN B. ARNOFF, ESQ.
Attorney for Petitioner
A. Rowland Boucher
630 Fifth Avenue
Room 1910
New York, New York 10020
(212) 582-0132
ANDREW J. MALONEY, ESQ.
630 Fifth Avenue
Room 1910
New York, New York 10020
(212) 586-6006
Of Counsel
COUNSEL PRESS, INC., 55 West 2nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10036 @ (212) 391-6622
a
Supreme Court, U, §.
FILED
SEP 23 1977
{AROMAT HODAK,. 1k. CLERK
PAGE
Opinion Below *eoecooeseoeoeesweeeseeoeeeeoeeeeees 2
Jurisdiction. *eeeeeeeeoe#eceeeeeseoeseeeeeeoe 2
Questions Presented.ccceses eevee oeeeee
WwW
Statutory and Constitutional Provi-
sions SEs 6 6-0 6066600666666 0068068 4
Bentemens OF Gee GbOSccccccscecesecesse »
Reasons for Granting the Writ...ecoses. 15
I. Petitioner claims immunity
in connection with his tes-
timony in a Section 167
hearing in the Chapter X
Reorganization Proceeding
of King Resources Company,
a public company of which
he was then President and
Chairman of the Board. A
sound construction of the
bankruptcy statutes re-
quires that the benefits
of the immunity provisions
of the bankruptcy statute
should apply to a Section
167 hearing.
II. The Court of Appeals
erroneously did not con-
sider the immunity issue
because it limited “use"
and "derivative use" to
investigatory leads; and
did not consider, as it
properly should have, the
use of such testimony by
ii
PAGE
the prosecution to obtain
advance knowledge of de-
fense strategy and assist-
ance in cross-examination
of the defendant. In the
case at bar, the Government,
in proceedings below, vir-
pen a conceded the use of
such bankruptcy testimony
for just such tactical ad-
vantage and assistance in
cross-examination.
III. Petitioner further urges
those issues raised by
petitioner King because
they equally affect peti-
tioner's right to a fair
trial, viz. a preclusion
by the Court limiting the
proof as to the present
value of the property
claimed to have been
fraudulently inflated by
the conduct of the defend-
ants.
P< cccnceubbesenceds Sbeeeeses 26
iii
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
General Stores v. Shlensky, 350 U.S.
462 Pre rrr TT TTITTyT
In re Bush Terminal Co., 102 F.2d’ #;i
(2d Cir. | OTT TTT TTTTrTTre
Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S.
4h (Jj titi ete ee teseececececeess
Standard Gas & Electric Co., 54 F.
Supp. 752 (D.C. Del. |
United States v. Bianco, 534 F.2d 501
(2d Cir. Dt eieeeeeeeGeeceeeecec
United States v. Castellana, 349 F.2d
264 (2d Cir. DEP Peseeececesesooecese
United States v. McDaniel, 482 F.2d
305 (8th Cir. DEP EPs eccccoececece Bas
United States v. Weissman, 219 F.2d
837 (2d Cir. Be dccccecesccccece 17,
STATUTES
Title 11 U.S.C. § 25(a)(1) (1952)
[Bankruptcy Act § 7(a)(10)|........3, 4,
Title 11 U.S.C. § 502 (1898
[Bankruptcy Act, ch. X §102]....eceee.
Title 11 U.S.C. § 567 (1898
[Bankruptcy Act, ch. X §167]. 3,4, 16,18
18 U.S.C.A. § 1406 Dt nescececce
18 U.S.C.A. § 2514 Ee
PAGE
18
17
23
18
21
19
23
19
16
17
,2l
24
24
iv
PAGE
1B U.B.CoAe $ S486 (19S}S)eccccecccccess &
OTHER AUTHORITIES
6 Collier on Denksuptey (14th ed.
1972) 91718, pp. 1210-14; 917.19, pp.
L215 25 ccc were sce coseeeesesecoesses 17, 19
2 Collier on Bankruptcy (14th ed.
1972) 97 21.05pp. 248-282 [p. 278 n. l,
Pleo esc esoscsereseeesesesesesosesesens 19
IN THE
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
OCTOBER TERM, 1977
No.
A. ROWLAND BOUCHER,
Petitioner,
Vv.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondents.
PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
Petitioner A. Rowland Boucher
prays that a writ of certiorari issue to
review a decision of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit,
dated July 22, 1977, which affirmed a
judgment of conviction for securities
fraud (15 U.S.C. § 78(j)(b)), mail fraud
(18 U.S.C. § 371), entered in the United
States District Court for the Southern
District of New York after a trial by
jury. John King, a defendant below, also
has filed a petition with this Court.
OPINIONS BELOW
The opinion of the Court of
Appeals is included in Appendix A, pp.
la-25a. The opinion of the District
Court is included in Appendix B, pp. 26a-
44a.
JURISDICTION
The judgment of the Court of
Appeals was entered July 22, 1977. A
petition for rehearing was denied on Aug-
ust 24, 1977, and that decision is in-
cluded in Appendix C, pp. 45a-46a. The
time for filing this petition extends to
and including September 24, 1977. The
jurisdiction of this Court is conferred
by 28 U.S.C. § 1254(1).
QUESTIONS PRESENTED
1. Whether petitioner was auto-
matically immunized under §/7(a)(10) of
the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C. § 25(a)(10))
as a result of testimony given by the
petitioner in hearings held pursuant to
§ 167 of the Bankruptcy Act.
2. Whether the Government's
use of such testimony, if immunized, sub-
sequent to the indictment to gain an ad-
vance preview of what position petitioner
would take at time of trial and assistance
in preparation for petitioner's cross-
examination requires dismissal of the
indictment.
3. Petitioner further urges
those issues raised by petitioner King,
because they equally affect petitioner's
right to a fair trial, viz. a preclusion
by the Court limiting the proof as to the
present value of the property claimed to
have been fraudulently inflated by the
r
conduct of the defendants.
STATUTES INVOLVED
The statutory provisions involved
are § 7(a)(10) and § 167 of the Bankruptcy
Act (11 U.S.C. § 25(a)(10) and § 567).
STATEMENT
Petitioner A. Rowland Boucher
was president of King Resources Company
("KRC"), which, in 1969 and to this date,
jointly held vast tracts of oil and natural
gas resources in the Canadian Arctic along
with Fund of Funds ("FOF"), an off-shore
open-end investment company. In December,
1969, KRC's principal customer FOF reques-
ted an evaluation of a part of their joint
holdings in the Arctic. To accomplish this
evaluation, it was agreed that a small por-
tion of these jointly held Arctic leases
would be the subject of arms-length sales.
In December, 1969, KRC effected two sales
negotiated by John King, KRC's then Chairman
of the Board, its principal stockholder
and petitioner's codefendant who secretly
guaranteed, according to the Government's
proof, the buyers against any loss on
their purchase. Thereafter, the petitioner,
then President of KRC, and his codefendant
King, in confirmation letters to FOF's
auditors, falsely represented that these
sales were "arms-length" transactions.
The Government's proof at trial
included evidence on the negotiation and
consummation of these sales, the value of
the Arctic leases which were the subject
of the sales, and on other natural resource
properties sold to FOF by KRC.
The gravamen of the Government's
case against petitioner was that he had
fraudulently misrepresented, in the above-
referred to confirmation letters to the
FOF auditors, that these sales of natural
resource properties were arms-length
transactions when in fact they were not.
His defense was predicated on his denial
of guilty knowledge of any buy-back guar-
antees with respect to the aforementioned
sales as well as his good faith belief at
the time that the natural resource proper-
ties were worth as much if not more than
what the "arms-length" purchasers paid
for them.
On August 14, 1971, creditors
of KRC filed an involuntary petition in
bankruptcy against KRC in Dallas, Texas.*
Thereafter, the Bankruptcy Court appointed
a trustee, and the petitioner as an
* Those proceedings continue to this day,
with the SEC reversing itself and now
recognizing the marked increase in value
in KRC's Arctic leases during the years.
The Court at time of trial refused peti-
tioner's opportunity to prove that the
present value of these Arctic leases
are twenty or more times the value
placed on them in 1969 by the petitioner.
additional trustee. Both trustees were
to perform the "statutory duties" imposed
upon the bankrupt under the Bankruptcy
Act. At the commencement of these pro-
ceedings, petitioner, through counsel,
reserved all of his rights to any statu-
tory immunity. Appendix D, pp. 47a-54a.
Petitioner then testified for approximately
six hours.
On October 20, 1971, the bank-
ruptcy proceeding involving KRC was trans-
ferred from Dallas, Texas to a more appro-
priate venue, Denver, Colorado. A new
trustee was appointed and petitioner re-
signed as trustee, although he remained
as KRC's Chairman of the Board and Chief
Executive Officer. On August 6 and 7,
1973, the trustee's counsel examined peti-
tioner Boucher on virtually every material
subject that was to be the subject matter
of the indictment as well as on the fac-
tual material that would arise on trial
of this case.
During the period of the Chapter
X Reorganization Proceedings involving
KRC, it was undisputed that petitioner
hired and fired personnel; conducted vari-
ous drilling programs of KRC's natural
resources enterprises; performed functions
with respect to KRC's satisfying its obli-
gations to its creditors; negotiated, pre-
pared, reviewed, and implemented various
natural resource contracts entered into
during the course of the bankruptcy pro-
ceedings; and submitted affidavits to the
federal court administering the bankruptcy
in connection with the purchase and/or
sale of KRC's properties.
10
On the eve of trial, after sub-
stitution of counsel,* the petitioner
moved to dismiss the indictment on the
ground that he had been previously immu-
nized in connection with the bankruptcy
proceedings of KRC.
In its response, the prosecution
conceded that the following documents had
just been discovered in its files:
1. The transcript of Boucher's
deposition conducted by the Denver trustee
on August 6 and 7, 1973, which was located
in a file denominated "Irrelevant";
2. Excerpted portions of the
transcript of Boucher's testimony conducted
on September 13, 1971, in Dallas, in which,
early on in the transcript, he refused to
* The District Court had noted that peti-
tioner had for some time been acting
pro se.
11
waive any immunity privileges under the
Act;* and .
3. A copy of the Denver trus-
tee's report, dated October 10, 1973,
which, the Government conceded, was based
in part on Boucher's testimony.
In addition, the staff attorney
of the SEC who was responsible for the
KRC investigation (and who assisted the
prosecution to the extent of sitting at
counsel table during the trial) admitted
reading the August 6 and 7, 1973 testimony
in the summer of 1975 (prior to the trial),
* It is unknown whether this was the cause
of the 1973 deposition's finding its way
into an "irrelevant" file in the U.S.
Attorney's office. In any event, the
Government was clearly in violation of
its departmental directives in the treat-
ment of bankruptcy testimony, see Dept.
of Justice Memo No. 744, April 8, 1971,
to "All U.S. Attorneys" outlining precau-
tionary measures in dealing with bankruptcy
immunity. Appendix E, pp. 55a-59a.
12
but claimed he did not recall any of it
and dismissed it as irrelevant.
Further, the prosecutors ex-
plained in their affidavits that they
believed they had not read the transcripts
because they had repeatedly discussed
among themselves and their SEC colleague
what position the petitioner and his co-
defendant might take at the time of trial,
and, thus, would have remembered reading
the August 1973 transcripts.
The Court denied the motion
without a hearing but granted leave to
renew it following the trial.
POST-TRIAL
Following the verdict, a hear-
ing was held and the Court denied the
motion, inter alia, on the ground that
13
the Government did not obtain any "leads"
from Boucher's testimony in KRC's reorgan-
ization proceeding.
During the hearing, the SEC
staff counsel testified that he had con-
tacted the trustee's counsel shortly after
being assigned to the investigation in
September 1973, and that he had not foc-
used on the two critical sales transactions
until after he had had such contact with
the trustee's counsel. He further acknowl-
edged that he had had a number of conversa-
tions in the fall of 1973 with the trustee's
counsel after the investigation had focused
on the critical sale transactions and that
he had also obtained, in the fall of 1973,
a copy of the Trustee's Report, which ques-
tioned the bona fide nature of those two
transactions. Moreover, the Government
14
did not dispute that the trustee had had
to take into consideration petitioner's
testimony in the preparation of the Trus-
tee's Report and conceded, contrary to
the pre-trial position, that the August
6 and 7, 1973 transcripts contained mat-
ters relevant to the indictment and trial
of the case.
Last, the prosecutor in charge
of the investigation and trial admitted
that he had directed the SEC attorney to
examine the Dallas deposition to find a
so-called "lie" that petitioner was re-
ported to have made in that proceeding.
That testimony essentially dealt with
petitioner's response to questions concern-
ing the value of the natural resource
properties, which were the subject matter
of the two critical sale transactions and
15
which went to the very core of the indict-
ment. The chief prosecutor also acknowl-
edged to the Court that his motive in ask-
ing the SEC attorney to examine the Dallas
transcript was to ascertain what type of
witness the petitioner would make at time
of trial.
REASONS FOR GRANTING THE WRIT
I. Petitioner's claim for immu-
nity stems from his testimony in a Section
167 proceeding in the context of a Chapter
X Reorganization of KRC, of which he was
by that time the President and Chairman
of the Board. The Court of Appeals did
not address the issue of immunity in this
context because it erroneously limited
use" and "derivative use" to the furnish-
ing of investigatory leads by the immunized
16
testimony and not the obtaining of a tac-
tical advantage by knowing in advance of
trial the position of the defendant and
its consequent assistance in cross-exam-
ination. However, the benefits of the
immunity statute, Section 7(a)(10) of the
Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C. 25(a)(1)), must
apply to a witness in a hearing held pur-
suant to Section 167 as well as to other
pertinent provisions of the Bankruptcy
Act.
Section 7(a)(10) of the Bank-
ruptcy Act (11 U.S.C. 25(a)(1)), as part
of the Organized Crime Control Act of
1970, affords the bankrupt use and deriva-
tive use immunity. Section 207 of Pub.
Law No. 91-452 Cong., 2d Sess. (1970).
Section 21(a) of the Bankruptcy Act pro-
vides for an examination of the bankrupt,
17
his or her spouse, and other persons when
designated by Order of the Court. In the
case law which evolved in interpreting
the immunity provisions of Section 7 of
the Bankruptcy Act, the courts found that
a Section 2l(a) hearing incorporated the
immunity provision of the Act when the
witness was performing the duties of the
bankrupt. United States v. Weissman, 219
F.2d 837, 841 [L. Hand dissent] (2d Cir.
Cir. 1955); In re Bush Terminal Co., 102
F.2d 471-472 (2d Cir. 1939), 349 F.2d 264;
6 Collier on Bankruptcy (14th ed. 1972)
§ 6.19, pp. 1224-25.
Similarly, the above-cited statu-
tory provisions must be read in para materia
with a Chapter X Reorganization under the
Bankruptcy Act. Section 102 of Chapter X
(11 U.S.C. § 502) makes ". . . the provisions
18
of Chapters 1 through 7 inclusive [Straight
Bankruptcy] . . . apply in proceedings un-
der this chapter [Corporate Reorganization]
."' Section 167 of the Act (11 U.S.C.
§ 567) provides for an examination of the
"debtor" and, thus, is the equivalent of
a Section 21(a) examination in a "bankruptcy
proceeding". In fact, Section 167 is
broader in scope and purpose than the other
provisions in that the need for complete
financial disclosure is more extensive in
the context of a reorganization proceeding
involving a public company such as KRC.
Although there are no definitive
cases granting immunity under Section 167,
the rationale and benefits of immunity
should clearly apply to a Section 167 ex-
amination. General Stores v. Shlensky,
350 U.S. 462, 467 (1956); In re Standard
19
Gas & Electric Co., 54 F.Supp. 752, 754
(D.C. Del. 1944), 2 Collier on Bankruptcy,
§ 21.05, pp. 278-282 [p. 278, n. 1, 3]; 6
Collier on Bankruptcy, supra,J 7.19, pp.
1215-1221.
During the times when petitioner
testified, first in the Dallas and then
in the Denver KRC bankruptcy proceedings,
petitioner was initially a co-trustee and
then, later, as President and Chairman of
the Board, an active part of the manage-
ment of KRC, the debtor company. More-
over, he was at all times relevant a
principal corporate officer of the bank-
rupt corporation, had basic responsibil-
ity for performing the duties of the
bankrupt, and, therefore, was immunized.
United States v. Weissman, supra, 841;
United States v. Castellana, 349 F.2d
20
264, 273-74 (2d Cir. 1965).
Il. In affirming the judgment
of conviction, the Court of Appeals
erroneously limited use and derivative
use to "investigatory leads" and did not
consider the use made of immunized testi-
mony by the prosecution which afforded
it the opportunity to prepare for cross-
examination of the defendant as well as
for the preparation of the over-all case
by knowing in advance the position that
the defendant would take at time of trial
on issues relevant to the indictment.
The Court of Appeals for the Second Cir-
cuit, inter alia, held, at p. 4893 of
its opinion:
"Because the prosecution already
had independent sources for its
full case, Boucher is wrong in
claiming taint merely because
the SEC attorney, after the in-
dictment, in order to see what
21
kind of witness this appellant
would make, read Boucher's 1971
bankruptcy testimony (see United
States v. Bianco, 534 F.2d 501,
514 n. 14 (2d Cir.), cert. den-
ied, 429 U.S. 822 (Oct. 5, 1976)).
The same is true of the Govern-
ment's mere possession somewhere
in its files of Boucher's 1973
bankruptcy testimony. 9"
Thus, in footnote 9 of its opin-
ion, the Court found it did not need to
consider whether immunity applied in the
Section 167 hearing:
"Because we find no taint with
respect to any of the evidence
used by the prosecution, we
need not consider the point
that Boucher's 1973 testimony
under Section 167 of the Bank-
ruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. Section
567, did not grant him immunity."
However, the very case cited by
the Court of Appeals at p. 4894 of its
opinion in order to affirm petitioner's
conviction, United States v. Bianco,
supra, at p. 514, n. 14, in fact supports
22
petitioner's contention that an improper
"use" by the Government would be the uti-
lization of immunized testimony to obtain
an advance view of what his position at
trial would be and gaining that assistance
in preparing for cross-examination, hold-
img, et p. 314, A. 14:
* The McDaniel court con-
cluded that the prosecutor's
use of the testimony could in-
clude such things as ‘assist-
ance in focusing the investi-
gation, deciding to initiate
prosecution, refusing to plea-
bargain, interpreting evidence,
planning cross-examination,
and otherwise generally plan-
ning trial strategy.’ United
States v. McDaniel, supra, 482
F.2d at 311. . ."' (emphasis
added).
In the post-trial hearings held
in the instant case before the district
court, the chief government prosecutor
acknowledged that there were numerous dis-
cussions with his SEC attorney as to what
23
position the petitioner would take at time
of trial and what his prospective trial
testimony would be, and, as a result, he
sent the SEC staff attorney assigned to
assist him in the case to obtain a copy
of the bankruptcy testimony of the peti-
tioner. In addition, of course, the same
SEC attorney admitted reading two volumes
of relevant testimony of the petitioner's
1973 testimony. Thus, the Government
Cannot overcome its heavy burden of estab-
lishing non-use as mandated by United
States v. McDaniel, 482 F.2d 305, 311-312
(8th Cir. 1973), and Kastigar v. United
States, 406 U.S. 441, 32 L.Ed.2d 212, 92
S.Ct. 1653 (1972).
Petitioner believes that a sub-
tle erosion of the protection of the Fifth
Amendment to the Constitution has occurred
24
since the enactment of the use immunity
provision of the Organized Crime Control
Act on which the bankruptcy immunity
relies.
Prior to its enactment, immunity
was ‘transactional’ and forever barred
criminal prosecution, except for false
affirmation under oath in an appropriate
proceeding. See 18 U.S.C. Sections 2514,
1406, 3486. Since the enactment of the
use immunity provisions of the aforemen-
tioned statute, prosecutors have become
bolder in skirting the grant of such immu-
nity, with the ever difficult task of a
showing of prejudice as a practical mat-
ter being shifted to the defendant in an
evidentiary hearing. Indeed, in the case
of bankruptcy immunity, which is subject
to the prying eyes of any number of
25
interested parties, the self-incrimination
protections accorded our citizens disinte-
grate even further.
The substantial interest of pre-
serving the integrity of the Fifth Amend-
ment privilege requires this Court to set
the strictest guidelines for the sealing
of such testimony if any criminal prosecu-
tion is to go forward. In the case at
bar, of cqurse, the record below supports
an egregious abuse of any proposed seal,
and cries out for dismissal.
26
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, this
Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari should
be granted.
Respectfully submitted,
NORMAN B. ARNOFF, ESQ.
630 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10020
Counsel for Petitioner
ANDREW J. MALONEY, ESQ.
630 Fifth Avenue, Room 1910
New York, New York 10020
Of Counsel
la
APPENDIX A
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
For THE Sseconp Criecvuit
Se
Nos. 1061-2—September Term, 1976.
(Argued March 16, 1977 Decided July 22, 1977.)
Docket Nos. 76-1435, 76-1440
ew
aS eS
Unitep States oF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-A ppellee,
v.
Joun M. Kino and A. Rowtanp Bovcuer,
Defendants-A ppellants.
4
.
5
Before:
LumBarp and Trmpers, Circuit Judges,
and Davis, Judge, Court of Claims.*
wow
Appeals from judgments of conviction for securities
fraud (15 U.S.C. § 78}(b)), mai) fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341)),
wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343) and conspiracy to commit
those offenses (18 U.S.C. § 371), entered in the Southern
District of New York, Marvin E. Frankel, Judge, after a
jury trial.
Affirmed.
Se
Micuaet F. Armstronc, New York, N.Y. (War-
ren H. Colodner and Barrett, Smith, Scha-
° Sitting by designation.
4877
2a
piro & Simon, New York, N.Y., on the brief),
for Defendant-Appellant King.
Anprew J. Matoney, New York, N.Y. (Norman
Arnoff and Maloney, Viviani & Higgins,
New York, N.Y., on the brief), for Defen-
dant-Appellant Boucher.
Joun R. Wine, Assistant United States Attor-
ney, New York, N.Y. (Robert B. Fiske, Jr.,
United States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York, Paul Vizcarrondo,
Jr., and Lawrence B. Pedowitz, Assistant
United States Attorneys, New York, N.Y.,
on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellee.
= =
Davis, Judge:
After a six-week trial in the Southern District of New
York before Judge Frankel and a jury, appellants John
M. King and A. Rowland Boucher were convicted on an
indictmeut charging four counts:—one of securities fraud
(15 U.S.C. §78}(b)) and related counts of mail fraud
(18 U.S.C. § 1341), wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343), and con-
spiracy to commit those substantive offenses (18 U.S.C.
§ 371). King was sentenced to concurrent terms of one
year’s imprisonment on three of the counts, to be followed
. by three years of unsupervised probation on the mail fraud
count. Boucher’s sentence was to seven months concur-
rently on three counts, and thereafter also to three years
unsupervised probation on the mail fraud charge.
Since appellants do not challenge the sufficiency of the
evidence we do not set it out in detail; the barebones will
suffice for the most part. The main institutional actors in
the case were King Resource Co. (KRC), a Denver-based
public company primarily engaged in selling oil, gas and
4878
3a
other natural resource interests, and the Fund of Funds
(FOF), an open-ended Canadian mutual fund, Geneva-
based, which was managed over-all through Investors Over-
seas Services (IOS), a Bernard Cornfeld company. King
and Boucher were Chief Executive Officer and President,
respectively, of KRC. In 1968 KRC (through King and
Boucher) agreed with FOF to sell undivided interests in
oil and other resource properties to FOF at a cost com-
parable to that charged KRC’s other customers. During
the next two years FOF because KRC’s most significant
« stomer, purchasing approximately $53,000,000 in such
properties. The main holding involved in this case was a
50 percent undivided interest in some 22 million acres of
oil and gas permits (with the potential of becoming leases)
in the Canadian Arctic, bought by FOF from KROC for
about $11 million.
FOF periodically revalued its investments in order to
determine their “net asset value” (for the sale and re-
demption of its shares) and to pay IOS, the investment
advisor, which was entitled to a commission on any ap-
preciation of FOF’s assets. One way in which this kind
of revaluation was accomplished was by a sale of a small
portion of the particular FOF asset. In 1969, after King
and Boucher had advised FOF that the Canadian Arctic
oil-and-gas holdings had substantially appreciated, FOF
decided to revalue that property and asked King to arrange
such sales (on FOF’s behalf) of 10% of the FOF interest;
it was understood that the sales had to be bona fide and
arms-length so that they could be used to ascertain the
correct market value of FOF’s Arctic interests. There-
after, at the end of 1969, sales were arranged by King and
Boucher for about $15 an acre, more or less—sales which
appeared on their surface to be genuine. On the basis of
these sales FOF’s Arctic holdings were revalued very
sharply upwards.
4879
4a
The core of the prosecution’s case was that these sales,
which seemed to be bona fide and arm’s length, and were
so represented by appellants, were collusive transactions
in which appellants arranged to supply the purchasers
with the funds to buy the property and also agreed to buy
the permits back if the purported vendees so wished. The
two sales on which the case centered and which the court’s
charge presented to the jury were one to John Mecom
and another to Consolidated Oil and Gas Co. (COG).
For the Mecom sale—as to which the prosecution’s proof
was stronger—the Government’s evidence supported the
following indicators that the transaction was not a genuine
one on which a proper revaluation of FOF’s Arctic prop-
erties could be grounded (we use the summary which the
court’s charge gave the jury of the Government’s conten-
tions on this point):
(1) That Mecom would be assured of net cash receipts
from business with KRC or with King-related companies
in the form of drilling work in the Arctic or elsewhere
sufficient to supply him with profits for the payments called
for under his contract for that purchase of the FOF in-
terests.
(2) That Mecom would be advanced by KRC or a King-
_ related company the money needed to make the down pay-
ment of something in excess of $260,000.
(3) That Mecom would not be obliged to pay any money
out of his own pocket other than moneys advanced to him
by KRC or obtained by him from KRC to King-related
companies.
(4) That King or a King-related company would at
Mecom’s request buy back the Arctic interests and hold
4880
5a
Mecom harmless from any obligation to make the payments
that purported to be due under the sales agreement.’
1 In greater detail, the prosecution's proof showed the following for the
Mecom sale:
Late in 1969 King approached Mecom through Hulsey, a friend of
Mecom's and a KRC employee. Hulsey testified that King told him to
offer Mecom a buy-back arrangement for a sale of the Arctic interests
but that Mecom was hesitant because of lack of liquid funds. Hulsey
stated that in late December 1969 Boucher sent him to Houston with a
sales contract for Mecom and explained that an additional agreement
would be arranged later and would provide for a “repurchase agree-
ment” and an “agreement to provide work.” Hulsey told Marriott,
Mecom's attorney, that Mecom would not have any personal liability,
that payments under the sales contract would be made from profits
earned by KRC employing Mecom’s drilling rigs, and that if Mecom was
unsatisfied, King would buy the interests back. The sales contract pro-
vided that Mecom was to pay $7.50 per acre cash plus an additional
$7.50 per acre in work obligations for 347,883 acres (about 3 per cent
of FOF’s holdings). Mecom and Marriott did not want to sign the
contract because it was a straight sales agreement, and did not contain
Hulsey’s guarantees. It was then agreed that Mecom would sign but
that Hulsey would not release the contract until Marriott received a
supplemental agreement incorporating Huls_y’s promises. Hulsey tes-
tified that be then returned to Denver and that the contract was removed
from his desk and was given to Boucher’s secretary.
Lowry, KRC’s general counsel, testified that after speaking with King,
he prepared a letter agreement, an unsigned copy of which was sent to
Marriott along with a note indicating that Lowry would retain the
original, which had been signed by King. Lowry stated that he destroyed
the original in January 1972, when his offices were moved. What was
apparently Marriott's copy and the accompanying Lowry note were pro-
duced at the trial. The letter confirmed the sales contract, promised
to provide sufficient payments to be made to Mecom to meet all pay-
ments on the sales contract through October 1971, and further provided
that King would accept an assignment of Mecom’s liabilities and inter-
ests under the sales contract any time between October and December 31,
1971.
Mecom's downpayment on the sales contract, approximately $260,000,
was due on January 2, 1970. Boucher and Hulsey arranged, with King’s
authorization, to forward $275,000 to Mecom through a Colorado Corp.
subsidiary (Colorado Corp. was a King-controlled company). On Jan-
uary 22, 1970 Marriott received a check for $275,000 and arranged for
the proceeds to be used to cover the $260,000 downpayment. Appellants
claim this money was an advance on an arrangement to use one of
Mecom’s drilling rigs. Mecom never received any drilling contracts from
KRC (apparently because his equipment was unsuitable or unready).
4881
6a
Capping the fraud, in the Government’s presentation,
were 1970 letters to FOF’s auditors, signed by both appel-
lants, representing that the Mecom and COG sales were
both arm’s length and bona fide, that no buy-back agree-
ments were involved, or any guarantee to the purchasers
of the economic results of the transactions. These letters
were written prior to FOF’s revaluation of the property
and as part of that process.
Defendants, who took the stand, denied that any of the
arrangements they entered into with Mecom or COG was
underhanded or lacking in full good faith, denied that there
were any buy-back agreements integral to the sales as
made, and asserted that any arrangements by which money
was supplied to Mecom (or to COG) were pursuant to
independent and legitimate business transactions, not de-
signed as secret inducements or side-deals in connection
with the Arctic purchases by Mecom or COG. They main-
' tained that the representation letters to FOF’s auditors
were not fraudulent but accurate characterizations of the
Mecom and COG transactions.
Though appellants do not argue sufficiency, they insist
that the prosecution’s case was very thin, and that we must
bear that in mind in appraising the various trial and evi-
dentiary points urged upon us. Judge Frankel, on the
other hand, writing on the defendant’s post-trial motions,
pointed out that “the jury’s deliberations were notably
‘swift. It seemed evident that the evidence for conviction
was clear and overwhelmingly persuasive.” He also found
“the proof of guilt powerful to the point of near certainty,”
that “the court is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, as
the jury must have been to convict, that the defendants
swore falsely at key junctures in their testimony,” and
that “the testimony of some 49 witnesses and the large
volume of exhibits appear convincingly to justify as reli-
4882
7a
able and accurate the conclusions the jury declared it had
reached beyond a reasonable doubt.”
From the record as well as the written and oral presenta-
tions made to us, we have no reason to disagree with the
trial judge’s view that the Government’s case was strong.
It was based, in large part, on the direct testimony co:
participants in the relevant transactions plus some telling
documenatry materials—to which was added the cement of
common sense and human experience. It is in this light
that we must evaluate the contentions for reversal which
we now take up. See United States v. Ong, 541 F.2d 331,
334 (2d Cir. 1976).
The Mecom Bankruptcy Documents
John Mecom was, as we have said, the purchaser in one
of the two revaluation sales the Government challenged
as lacking in bona fides. Some months after that trans-
action he went into bankruptcy. As a Government witness,
Mecom testified that he did not have the money to buy
the Arctic interest to be sold to him but that King (or a
King company) would supply the cash through a business
deal, and would also buy back the property later on if
Mecom wished. At the close of his cross-examination by
King’s counsel, the latter offered more than 200 pages of
official documents relating to Mecom’s bankruptcy. The
stated purpose of the offer was to show that “there are
representations made in these bankruptcy papers as to the
Arctic contract, in which it is treated in the bankruptcy
papers as a legitimate, binding contract, with no mention
of any side agreements or anything having to do with any
side agreements, up to a certain point in the bankruptcy,
where the further papers show that there was a contest
made for the first time where the contract was challenged,
but not on the grounds that have been testified about in
4883
8a
these proceedings.” However, no specific parts of the
bundle were pointed out to court or jury as inconsistent
with Mecom’s testimony—but it was and is clear that only
a relatively small number of excerpts bore at all on those
subjects. Nevertheless, the whole “sheaf of papers” was
then summarily received. Without any further substantial
cross-examination of Mecom on the documents, counsel
concluded cross-examination.
On redirect the prosecutor elicited from Mecom that he
had prepared none of the 10 exhibits, that the papers had
been prepared by his attorneys and accountants and he
was generally ignorant of their contents, and that only
three exhibits contained documents bearing his signature.
Based on this redirect, the Government then moved to ex-
clude the documents. Defense counsel responded with a
voir dire bringing out that Mecom had apparently read the
documents he signed and that where a contractual liability
was disputable his lawyers would discuss the matter with
him. Again, no specific parts of the exhibits were segre-
gated out as inconsistent with Mecom’s testimony ; counsel
did say, however, that he would be willing to excerpt the
relevant portions and make a sub-exhibit. The court then
granted the prosecution’s motion to exclude, primarily on
the ground that defendants had not yet indicated the
claimed inconsistencies and had not sought to use the
allegedly pertinent portions in cross-examination. A short
while later, defense counsel again attempted to have the
documents admitted; he explained that his intention had
been to read to the jury the specific portions said to be in-
consistent with Mecom’s testimony but that he now realized
that he should have brought out more from Mecom, and
that at this point he merely wanted to go through certain
of the documents with the witness, especially the signed
ones, in order to bring out that the Arctic contract was
4884
9a
listed in the bankruptcy proceedings without any question
or reservation. In this connection counsel] said: “I did not
feel that I wanted to question the witness at great length
about something that was obviously prepared by his at-
torneys but he swore to it. I was not going to make any
big point about the fact that he prepared it or sweated
over it.” Emphasizing that the defense had twice foregone
the opportunity to point out the alleged inconsistencies, to
explain the relevance of this mass of official documents,
and to connect Mecom with those contradictions, and noting
that “even as you put it now at most these [papers] are
of modest potential relevance in this case,” the court ad-
hered to its ruling of exclusion.
On this appeal, appellants have blown up this exclusion
as a major error affecting their opportunity to break down
the Government’s case. We do not so see it. The defense
has now suggested all kinds of uses to which these bank-
ruptcy documents could have been put at the trial (in-
cluding extensive cross-examination of Mecom on various
scores) but the record is clear that (a) the only purpose
suggested for the admission of the papers was that they
incorporated prior inconsistent statements of Mecom; (b)
appellants’ counsel never got down to singling out for the
court or jury the particular portions of the documentary
packet on which he relied for this purpose; (c) counsel
twice refrained from cross-examining Mecom as to these
inconsistencies when he had the chance; (d) even at the
end of the effort to get the papers admitted, counsel ob-
viously did not wish to cross-examine Mecom extensively
or thoroughly on the basis of the papers but primarily
wanted to read portions to the jury with only the lightest
of explanation from Mecom; and (e) the record, as the
defense left it, showed that Mecom’s personal connection
with the bankruptcy documents, to the extent there was
any at all, was far from deep.
4885
10a
In these circumstances Judge Frankel was within his
discretion to exclude the evidence. Counsel was very tardy
in offering to point out and segregate the few relevant
portions of the large file. See Trade Development Bank
v. Continental Ins. Co., 469 F.2d 35, 44 (2d Cir. 1972). Even
then, the plan was to read selected excerpts to the jury
without drawing from Mecom any substantial background
for or explanation of the asserted contradictions. Judge
Frankel was surely right in referring to the “modest poten-
tial relevance” of the alleged inconsistencies since there
were several reasons why Mecom and his lawyer-and-
accountant aides might not wish to mention the side-agree-
ments with appellants in the bankruptcy papers. Fen. R.
Evip. 403 authorizes a trial judge to exclude even relevant
evidence “if its probative value is substantially outweighed
by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues,
or misleading the jury * * *.” In view of the official nature
of the documents (the judge referred to “red seals and
ribbons’) with their possible untoward effect on the jury,
the prolonged failure to pinpoint the small portions which
were at all pertinent, counsel’s refusal to explore the re-
lationship between the submission of the papers to the
bankruptcy court and Mecom’s testimony in this case,”
and the minor probative force of the evidence, the exercise
of discretion under Rule 403 was available and could prop-
erly be used.
2 Under Rule 613 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, dealing with the
admissibility of extrinsic evidence of a witness's prior inconsistent
statement, the defense was not itself required to confront the witness
with the statement or to give him an opportunity on cross-examination
to explain—so long as the witness was afforded in some fashion an
opportunity to explain or deny. However, that does not mean that in
this instance the defense was not called upon to explore the matter
further with Mecom in order to avoid exclusion under Rule 403 for “un-
fair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury.” Rule 613
and Rule 403 fulfill separate functions. Although admissible under 613
the papers could be excluded under 403.
4886
lla
In any event, three of the excluded bankruptcy docu-
ments were later admitted, one of which defense counsel’s
summation put to the jury as demonstrating the very in-
consistency he had stressed in trying to have the docu-
ments admitted during Mecom’s testimony. If the sub-
exhibit (containing the alleged inconsistencies) which coun-
sel belatedly asked leave to submit had been accepted, the
defense would not have been in a materially better posi-
tion since, as we have stated, the course counsel wished to
follow was to read and argue from the bankruptcy docn-
ments in just this fashion. We find no support for the
strained argument that the court’s prior handling of the
problem of the bankruptcy papers so prejudiced the jury
that any defense argument in summation (based on the
documents) could not be effective.
Pre-indictment Delay
The indictment was brought in January 1975, towards
the end of the limitations period but within it. Appellants
claim, under United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 324-25
(1971), that they were deprived of due process by the
delay between the occurrence of the’alleged criminal acts
and the beginning of the case. This issue was twice con-
sidered by the District Court, once before trial and, again,
after trial. On the basis of extensive affidavits and docu-
mentation, Judge Frankel decided each time that there was
insufficient merit in the point. In his post-trial ruling he
concluded that “defendants show neither intentional delay
for tactical advantage nor measurable prejudice * * * .”
Appellants suggest no adequate ground for overturning
this considered determination.
A recent Supreme Court decision has clarified the prin-
ciples underlying a finding that a pre-indictment delay vio-
lates the Due Process Clause. United States v. Lovasco,
4887
12a
U.S. Sup. Ct. No. 75-1844, decided June 9, 1977, 45 US.
L.W. 4627. The Court first ruled that “proof of prejudice
is generally a necessary but not sufficient element of a due
process claim, and that the due process inquiry must con-
sider the reasons for the delay as well as the prejudice to
the accused” (45 U.S.L.W. at 4629); then held that the
prosecutor does not go against due process by refusing to
seek indictments “unti] he is completely satisfied that he
should prosecute and will be able promptly to establish
guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” (45 U.S.L.W. at 4630) ;
and concluded that “to prosecute a defendant following
investigative delay does not deprive him of due process,
even if his defense might have been somewhat prejudiced
by the lapse of time” (45 U.S.L.W. at 4630-31). The Court
indicated, however, as it had in Marion, that a “tactical”
delay by the prosecution would violate the Constitution
and implied that the same could well be true for a reckless
disregard of the defendant’s rights (45 U.S.L.W. at 4630,
fn. 17).
Appellants’ contention is that, as early as 1971-72, the
Securities and Exchange Commission had enough facts to
warrant a further investigation and a speedier indictment.
It may well be that in those years the S.E.C. received in-
formation giving it probable cause to believe that both the
Mecom and COG transactions were suspect, incorporating
secret buy-back agreements.’ But Lovasco, supra, explic-
itly teaches that prosecution need not, should not, follow
where the Government merely has probable cause. It was
not until July 1973 (after an attorney for FOF’s successor
went directly to the S.E.C. Director of Enforcement) that
the S.E.C. initiated a full formal investigation into the
Arctic deals (with one investigator). Meanwhile, the Den-
3 However, the 8.E.C. did not then have adequate information as to
appellants’ representations in 1970-1971 to FOF’s auditors.
4888
13a
ver office of the agency was heavily involved in investi-
gating other of appellants’ transactions of which it had
earlier learned, but the S.E.C. cannot be faulted, in view
of the limitations on its budget and staff, for concentrat-
ing on those other aspects, especially since the Arctic in-
formation available to it, though suggestive, was by no
means conclusive. Similarly, the United States Attorney’s
Office in Denver was centering on these other phases of
appellants’ activity. At the very least, we find no basis
whatever for thinking that the S.E.C.’s delay in starting
to investigate the Arctic transactions, or the Department
of Justice’s judgment regarding priorities during this
earlier period, was “tactical,” intended to deprive the
appellants of their rights of defense, or reckless of those
rights. After the formal investigation began in the sum-
mer of 1973, an extensive inquiry was had, involving more
than 80 interviewees and thousands of documents. The
case was referred to the Department of Justice for pos-
sible prosecution in September 1974, and considering the
complexity of the matter the indictment was promptly re-
turned in January 1975.
The upshot is that, in our view, the period since July
1973 certainly fell within the type of “investigative delay”
which Lovasco held not to deprive an accused of due pro-
cess.‘ The prior time from 1971 to the middle of 1973,
though not taken up with investigation focused on the
Arctic, should likewise not be counted against the Gov-
ernment. During that period the federal agencies (S.E.C.
and the Justice Department) plainly did not have nearly
enough evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt;
they were not required to divert their energies from the
4 The Court held in Lovasco that a prosecutor could delay, even after
be had developed the minimum evidence to prove guilt beyond a reason-
able doubt, so long as he was continuing his investigation in good faith
to firm up his case.
4889
14a
other inquiries to delving into appellants’ Arctic transac-
tions; and they were neither attempting “to gain tactical
advantage over the accused,” United States v. Marion, su-
pra, 404 U.S. at 324, nor knowingly reckless of the risks
to appellants in delaying prosecution. No plausible rea-
son has been given us why the Government would have, or
had, any purpose in 1971-1973 other than to concentrate
on the separate investigations (into appellants and KRC)
which at the time seemed to it much more likely to reveal
provable wrongdoing; there is no substantial indication
that placing the Arctic transactions “on hold” for that
period was designed to injure appellants or harm their
defense. When FOF’s successor management brought the
matter forward again in 1973, the S.E.C. stepped up its
interest and the formal investigation began and proceeded
in due course.
The other facet of appellant’s presentation on this point
is that they were substantially prejudiced by the lapse of
time. As we have pointed out, Lovasco countenances some
prejudice due to bona fide investigative delay. Judge
Frankel] said, after the trial, that he had “a definite con-
viction that defendants were not injured to any material
extent by the lapse of time.” Giving weight to this ap-
praisal by the trial judge, we too find that any delay-
prejudice appellants may have suffered did not deprive
them of due process. They stress the death in June 1974
of Edward Cowett,’ a high functionary of FOF, but are
basically unable to say with any specificity or assurance
what he would have said on the stand or how his testi-
mony would have aided their case. We see no reason to
believe that his testimony, if he were called, would have
helped appellants. Cowett had, as far as the record re-
5 Lovasco, which held that no due process violation bad been shown,
involved the death (during the pre-indictment delay) of two persons
said by the accused to be material witnesses for him.
4890
l5a
veals, nothing to do with any side-arrangements between
appellants and Mecom or COG. On that, the heart of the
case, he could have added little or nothing. Although there
are materials suggesting the contrary, he may conceiv-
ably have known and approved the profits KRC generally
made on its continuing sales of property to FOF, but if
that were the corporate view of FOF appellants could and
should have called Bernard Cornfeld, or other officers or
directors of FOF, to show it.‘
Another claim of prejudice is through the absence of
two documents destroyed in ordinary course during the
pre-indictment period. One was the original of the written
buy-back letter agreement with Mecom (which had been
retained by King’s lawyer and later disposed of as no
longer in effect), there being produced at the trial only
unsigned copies which appellants challenged as inaccurate
and never seen or authorized by King. Their main pwosi-
tion is that if the original was also unsigned it would have
tended to corroborate their contention that such a secret
pact was never put into effect. This may possibly be so
but we think that, against the weight of ora] and written
evidence showing that King actually made such a side buy-
back agreement, the loss of this origina! was too slight
and too conjectural a prejudice to warrant dismissal of
the indictment for delay for which the Government cannot
properly be faulted under Marion and Lovasco. Also lost
were the notes taken at the time by a newspaper reporter
of a conversation with a high officer of COG in which the
latter declared that he had a buy-back arrangement with
KRC. This loss seems insignificant since the reporter’s
6 $Cowett’s evidence was not wholly lost because his 1970 grand jury
testimony—given in apotber connection but including a part of the
general relationship between KRC and FOF—was read to the jury at
appellants’ request.
4891
16a
story was published the next day, and he was available at
the trial for full cross-examination.
We have also considered the other instances of claimed
prejudice, all of which were discussed extensively by both
parties in the presentations made to the court below and
here again, and again we find them too speculative, too
peripheral, and too slight to call for dismissal. We men-
tion only (a) the assertion of diminished recollection, a
type of genera] prejudice which this court has already re-
jected, United States v. Finkelstein, 526 F.2d 517, 526 (2d
Cir. 1975), cert. denied, sub nom. Scardino v. United States,
425 U.S. 960 (1976); United States v. Payden, 536 F.2d
541, 544 (2d Cir. 1976) and (b) appellants’ claimed lessened
ability to assemble evidence from the KRC files, a general
allegation unsupported by a showing of what such docu-
ments could be or why they were not subject to subpoena.
The result is that, on the whole case, appellants have failed
to show such substantial prejudice, considering that the
Government was not at fault in the delay, as to require
dismissal of the indictment.’
Immunization Because of Bankruptcy Testumony
Appellants both urge that the prosecution improperly
used bankruptcy testimony given by them under a statu-
tory grant of immunity—King during his personal bank-
ruptey proceedings in 1971 and 1973, Boucher, in 1971 and
1973, with respect to KRC’s reorganization. This point
7 This court has upheld several convictions with comparably lengthy
pre-indictment delays. See United States v. Schwartz, 535 F.2d 160
(1976); United States v. Eucker, 532 F.2d 249, 255 (1976), cert. denied
sub nom. Anderson V. United States, 429 U.S. 827 (1976); United States
v. Ferrara, 458 F.2d 868, 875, cert. denied, 408 U.8. 931 (1972); United
States v. Iannelli, 461 F.2d 483, 485, cert. denied, 409 U.S. 980 (1972);
United States v. Feinberg, 383 F.2d 60 (1967), cert. denied, 380 U.8.
1044 (1968).
4892
17a
was likewise gone into twice by the trial judge, before trial
in written submissions (including affidavits) and after trial
by further extended written presentations and an oral
hearing. The gist of the Government’s response was that
only the S.E.C. attorney-investigator, not the United States
Attorney’s staff, had looked at this bankruptcy evidence
and then only at some of it—and that there were indepen-
dent sources for all the Government’s material used to
obtain the indictment or offered at the trial. Judge Frankel
found post-trial, “a totally convincing demonstration by
the prosecution that there was no use or derived use of
the kind defendants posit. Clear, specific and credible ac-
counts are given to display the untainted sources of the
Government’s witnesses and other evidence. Cross-exami-
nation [of the S.E.C. attorney] has not served to impair
the persuasive showing made by the Government on this
subject.” The judge assumed that the prosecution has a
heavy burden to disprove taint and held that burden met.
We have no reason, after reviewing the record, to ques-
tion the court’s conclusion. The investigation below into
possible taint was thorough and exhaustive, there is no
claim that the Government failed to make full disclosure,
the appellants had a full and fair opportunity to break
down the Government’s showing but failed to make a sig-
nificant dent.* Because the prosecution already had inde-
pendent sources for its full case, Boucher is wrong in claim-
ing taint merely because the S.E.C. attorney, after the
indictment in order to see what kind of witness this appel-
lant would make, read Boucher’s 1971 bankruptcy testi-
8 King says that the Government should have had transcribed certain
of his bankruptcy testimony which was left untranscribed. Aside from
his lateness in making this request, it was his obligation, which he did
not fulfill, to show that prima facie the untranscribed testimony con-
cerned matters related to the prosecution. Kastiger v. United States,
406 U.S. 441, 460 (1972).
4893
18a
mony (see United States V. Bianco, 534 F.2d 501, 514 n.14
(2d Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 822 (Oct. 9, 1976)). The
same is true of the Government’s mere possession some-
where in its files of Boucher’s 1973 bankruptcy testimony."
Refusals to Charge
Boucher says that the court erred in refusing to charge
his defense that he relied on counsel in signing the repre-
sentation letters to FOF’s auditors. There are multiple
defects in this claim. Boucher’s position throughout the
trial was that he knew nothing of any side-deals or buy-
back arrangements with either Mecom or COG; it is very
hard to see how in those circumstances a defense of re-
liance-on-counsel, which goes to unlawful intent not knowl-
edge of the facts, could have any relevance. See, €.g-,
Powell v. United States, 513 F.2d 1249, 1251 (8th Cir.),
cert. denied, 423 U.S. 853 (1975). Second, Boucher specifi-
cally testified on cross-examination that he did not recall
relying on counsel before signing the representation let-
ters; thus, there was no factual predicate for the requested
instruction. Third, there was no showing that before he
relied on counsel, if he did, he gave the lawyer all the
relevant facts as to the Arctic transactions. See Bisno v.
United States, 299 F.2d 711, 720 (9th Cir. 1961), cert.
denied, 370 U.S. 952 (1962). Lastly, significant representa-
tions were made as to specific facts (e.g. that there were
no buy-back agreements) and as to those we cannot under-
stand how a businessman who knows that such factual
representations are ul.‘rue can screen himself by trying to
9 Because we find no taint with respect to any of the evidence used by
the prosecution, we need not consider the point that Boucher’s 1973
testimony under Section 167 of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. § 567,
did not grant bim immunity.
4894
19a
rely on advice of counsel, See Williamson v, United States,
207 U.S, 425, 453 (1908),"*
The only other attack respecting the charge is the refusal
of the court to tell the jury that “if you do not fully under-
stand the nature of the proof or the charges against cither
defendant, then you must acquit the defendant”. In this
case, with its components of Anancial and technical proof,
much of it peripheral to the core issue of the Mecom and
COG transactions, a sweeping charge of that kind was ob-
viously inappropriate, The court gave unexceptionable
instructions on reasonable doubt and burden of proof, and
rightly centered its instruction on the paramount question
of the bona fides of the Mecom and COG sales, The jury
received the necessary guidance from the court to help it
separate out the wheat. :
Admission of Evidence as to the Profitability of
KRC's Business with FOF and of Loss to FOF
from the Mecom and COG Transactions
The Government spent some time putting, in evidence—
through an S.E.C, accountant and a number of charts
drawn from the books and records of KRC and King-
related companies—of the profitability of KRO’s business
of selling undivided interests in natural resource proper-
ties to FOF." Since appellants did not make any direct
profit from the revaluation sales to Mecom and COG, the
Government wanted to show the appellants’ motive for
arranging those tainted transactions. That motive, as the
prosecution presented it, was to enable KRC to demon.
strate to FOF that the former's continuing project of sell.
10 Tt ie noteworthy that, althongh no charge was given on the point,
defense counse! suggested the defense in his summation.
1 Including the profita from the business of Colorado Corporation, a
King controlled (and mostly King-owned) company,
4895
20a
ing properties to FOF was to the latter's financial ad-
vantage, thereby inducing FOF to prolong its program of
purchasing from KRC (which was to KRC'’s great benefit),
It is in the trial judge’s discretion to admit evidence
suggesting the defendants’ motive for the crime charged,
Moore v, United States, 150 U.S. 57, 60-61 (1893); United
States v. Fernandes, 497 F.2d 730, 735-36 (9th Cir, 1974),
cert, denied, 420 U.S, 990 (1975), The evidence objected to
was carefully limited by the court to the question of mo-
tive for the allegedly sham sales to Mecom and COG, and
the jury was instructed not to consider it as showing that
KROC fraudulently overpriced its own sales to FOF, Ap-
pellants insist that nevertheless the evidence was highly
prejudicial because it led the jury to consider them “bad
men” who simply ought to be punished for milking FOF
through high prices. We cannot accept this complaint. The
information was highly relevant to the case; it explained
why appellants would do what they were said to have done.
The prosecutor's summation stressed i RO's financial in-
terest but he tied it directly to the Mecom and COG sales
as showing the motive why they were planned, Above all,
the court kept the jury on the track in its instructions, in
a specific direction as this evidence came in, as well as in
the final charge. We do not think the jury was permitted
to avoid confronting the summit issue of the Mecom and
COG sales by sliding down the tempting slope that appel-
lants were conviction-worthy simply because they were
financial highbinders.
Appellants also say that the Government's presentation
on this point was both excessive and inaccurate, Neither
the time taken (half-a-day in a six-week trial) nor the
amount of the evidence was immoderate, especially since
appellants had refused (despite the judge's urging) to
stipulate to sales and gross profite figures, and their sum.
mary concession of the profitability to KRC of the
4896
21a
FOF business came out subsequently in defendants’ case
(through the testimony of King), The claimed inaccuracy
is that the Government's evidence, using gross profit
figures, failed to take account of substantial indirect costs
of KRC. The presentation followed the way in which KRC
and Colorado Corporation kopt their books, and appel.
lante had full opportunity to challenge the correctness of
the prosecution's calculations and to offer their own, See
United States v, Kyle, 257 F.2d 559, 563-64 (2d Cir, 1958),
cert, denied, 358 U.S. 987 (1959), The judge was not re-
quired to exclude the Government's evidence, based as it
was on the books of KRC and KRC-related companies, be-
cause the defendants disputed that it accurately reflected
the amount of KRO’s and appellants’ gain.
In the same vein, defendants challenge certain proof
used by the prosecution to tell the jury that shareholders
of FOF suffered a loss as a result of the fraudulent re-
valuation of the Arctic properties, There was evidence
that in 1970 FOF faced a liquidity crisis because of the
combination of the fact that a large percentage of its as-
nets were the illiquid natural resource properties sold it
by KRC and Colorado Corporation, together with the fact
that large numbers of FOF shareholders redeemed their
shares to take advantage of the increased valuation. To
alleviate the situation FOF spun off the natural resource
properties to a new closed company called Global, In sum.
mation the prosecutor pointed out that before the spin-off
FOF"s natural resources accounted for about $11 worth of
each FOF share, but afterwards Global shares sold only
for $2 to $3, This comparison, it is said, led the jury to
think mistakenly that the $2-8 price was all the Arctic
properties were actually worth at the time, far less than
the revalued figure obtained through the mala fide Mecom
and COG sales, The prosecutor's short reference to the
Global spin-off was probably too cryptic but it came in a
4897
22a
series of citations to other instances of damage to FOF
and its shareholders, damage not susceptible to challenge
ae misleading; we think that the spin-off remark, to the
extent it may have been implicitly inaccurate, was not so
injurious or so important as to be reversible error in itself.
Ezaclusion of Evidence as to the 1976 Value
of the Arctic Interests
The trial court precluded appellants from offering evi-
dence on the current (1976) value of the KRC-FOF Arctic
holdings. This is tagged as error because, defendants say,
(a) proof of the high present value would have confirmed
their belief in the properties in 1969-1970 and would have
demonstrated their lack of intent to defraud, (b) proof of
1976 value goes toward showing 1969-1970 value,” and (c)
present value demonstrates that appellants did not mis-
represent in urging FOF to revalue its Arctic interests
upward.
It may be that 1976 value would have some slender and
marginal utility in firming up some of these propositions
but Judge Frankel could properly exclude it because the
complexity and delay which would be injected would far
outweigh any contribution toward proving a proposition
important to appellants’ defense. See Fev. R. Evin. 403;
United States v. Corr, 543 F.2d 1042, 1051 (2d Cir. 1976).
If the case is seen in proper framework, it is beside the
point that defendants had faith in the Arctic holdings in
1969-1970, that those assets had a good potential at that
time, or that in the long run FOF and its shareholders
benefited from their Arctic properties. The basic accusa-
tion was that appellants knowing’; misrepresented in 1969-
1970 that the sales to Mecom and COG were arms-length,
12 Appellants were not prevented from showing or arguing 1968-1970
value.
4898
23a
including no buy-back side-deals, so as to induce FOF to
revalue upward its Arctic assets. As we have stressed, the
case went to the jurors under instructions expressly di-
recting them to Mecom-COG as the focus of the fraud
charged against appellants. That accusation poses an issue
entirely separate from the actual value of the Arctic prop-
erties in 1969-1970, and theoretically the value of the
properties in those years would not be directly pertinent.
But even if one assumes that proof of 1969-1970 worth
could help appellants to demonstrate that at that time
they had no need, motive, or intent to concoct sham sales,
disputable evidence of 1976 value is too remote and too
far down the road to compel the trial judge to tolerate the
additional complexities, delay, and possible confusion re-
sulting from a side-battle over 1976 value (including the
effect of the Arab oil embargo).
The MacKenzie Statement in Boucher’s Presence
In January 1971 a KRC directors’ meeting, attended by
Boucher, considered a suit which had been threatened by
COG to rescind the latter’s Arctic purchase. At that meet-
ing, Neil MacKenzie, a KRC official and head of its Cal-
gary office, said, in answer to a query whether the price
paid by COG for its Artic interest wasn’t too high, that it
was “ridiculous.” Boucher admitted that he heard that
remark and said nothing in response; his explanation
(when the matter came up during his cross-examination)
was that he “wasn’t concentrating on this particular aspect
at that time.” MacKenzie’s statement was admitted as an
admission by silence on the part of Boucher,” and was
used by the prosecutor to tell the jury that the price paid
13 MacKenzie was living in South Africa at the time of the trial and
could only be produced, if at all, at great expense.
4899
24a
by COG was much too high and Boucher knew it. This is
said to be prejudicial error.
The acceptance of MacKenzie’s remark as an admission
* by silence on the part of Boucher was not incorrect. The
general rule is to look at the circumstances to see whether
it was more reasonably probable that a man would answer
the charge made against him than that he would not.
United States v. Flecha, 539 F.2d 874, 877 (2d Cir. 1976).
Here, Judge Frankel could reasonably conclude that that
test was met, Boucher having fuli opportunity to justify
and explain his silence. MacKenzie was a knowledgeable
official of KRC; the meeting was called to discuss what
KRC should do (e.g. 2zettle) about the anticipated COG
lawsuit; MacKenzie’s comments were serious ones about
a matter in which Boucher had been and was directly in-
volved, and they had a plain bearing on the course KRC
should take on the COG suit; Boucher did comment on
certain of MacKenzie’s other statements but not on the
observation that the price was “ridiculous.” We cannot
say that the court exceeded its discretion in allowing the
jury to have this information.**
Once admitted, such an admission-by-silence was not
hearsay and could be taken as an admission by Boucher of
his belief in the statement and its truth. See Fev. R. Evm.
801(d)(2)(B). This was how it was used by the prose-
cutor in his argument. MacKenzie’s view was not admitted
or urged upon the jury as expert testimony; the Govern-
ment, in suggesting that Boucher accepted MacKenzie’s
valuation, simply pointed out that in Boucher’s own mind
14 We read United States v. Lam Lek Chong, 544 F.2d 58, 65 n.8 (2d
Cir. 1976), as holding no more than that, in the very different circum-
stances of that case, the Flecha rule was not met.
4900
25a
MacKenzie was a good judge of the level of the price COG
paid.”
The conclusion we have reached, after carefully examin-
ing all the issues presented by each appellant,’* is that
none of them, singly or in combination, calls for reversal
of either of the convictions.
The judgment as to each appellant is affirmed.
15
16
King complains that MacKenzie’s remark, although admitted only
against Boucher, was improperly used against King as well in the Gov-
ernment’s arguments to the jury. That summation, however, linked the
remark to Boucher alone, and King’s counse] had the opportunity to
point out in his answering summation that King was not present or
bound by MacKenzie's statement.
Although appellants, who are Denver-based, have made scattered re-
fiections on the difficulties and unfairness of trial in New York, they
have not raised in this court (though they did below) the refusal of the
District Court to transfer the case to Denver or the due process unfair-
ness of requirixg ‘them to stand trial in New York. If the case had been
transferred to Denver it is almost certain that it would have had to be
moved again because of intense publicity there.
4901
26a
APPENDIX B
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
eee weeuewwweewwwweeewanee2aeaeeee eo @ x
75 Cr. 70
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ' (MEF)
— s 1 MEMORANDUM
ON DEFEND-
JOHN M. KING and 1: ANTS' POST-
A. ROWLAND BOUCHER, TRIAL MOTIONS
i
Defendants.
!
me ee ee ee ee ee eee x
FRANKEL, D. J.
With characteristic thoroughness
and scholarship, defense counsel have moved
after verdict for judgments of acquittal
and/or dismissal of the indictment. The
court has concluded that the motions should
be denied. Some of the issues thus deter-
mined, together with reasons for this re-
sult, are as follows.
1. Renewing a contention pressed
before trial, defendants say the indictment
should be dismissed for wrongful and preju-
dicial delay in presenting the charges to
27a
a grand jury. The point is urged earnest-
ly, ingeniously, and at length. It is,
nevertheless, no more impressive now than
it was before the case was tried.
After a trial of some six weeks,
the jury's deliberations were notably
swift. It seemed evident that the evidence
for conviction was clear and overwhelmingly
persuasive. As defense counsel recalls in
the present motion papers, defendants'
“credibility was a critical issue in the
case." (Affidavit of Michael P. Armstrong,
Esq., sworn July 22, 1976, p. 29.) ‘The
problem was not failure of memory in any
significant respect. Rather, viewing the
central matters covered in defendants' tes-
timony, their problems were (a) occasional
failures of memory that were incredible
and, more importantly, (b) sworn recollec-
tions and denials that were at least equal-
ly incredible in themselves and in the set-
ting of the record as a whole.
28a
These inferences as to how the
jury must have reasoned cannot, obviously,
be drawn with certainty. They reflect in
at least some measure the court's own
appraisal of the record. The court does
indeed find the proof of guilt powerful to
the point of near certainty. And the
court is convinced beyond a reasonable
doubt, as the jury must have been to con-
vict, that the defendants swore falsely at
key junctures in their testimony. These
basic observations on the state of the
record are of consequence now for assess-
ing defendants' claims that evidence lost
to them by the passage of time could plaus-
ibly be imagined to have made a difference
in the outcome.
Before adding a few words on
that, the court notices defendants’ condem-
natory descriptions of the delay in indict-
ing. Basically, the argument is that the
SEC was “on notice" by early 1971 of facts
29a
and evidence that should have led to a for-
mal order to investigate the matters here
involved well before the order actually
issued on July 24, 1973, which led to the
indictment herein. There is no doubt, with
hindsight, that this Arctic exploration
might have followed from information pos-
sessed by or available to SEC staff members.
It is equally clear, however, and entirely
reasonable that they were so busy with
Other activities of defendant King and his
enterprises that the Arctic problems now
before us stayed out of focus until 1973.
And what is still clearer is the entire ab-
sence of any devious or otherwise improper
conduct accounting for the delay in per-
ceiving the Arctic misdeeds. However much
defendants tend to infer or hint at on this
score, the court discerns no semblance of
a basis for suspicion and no ground for
inquiry into the behavior of government
investigators or prosecutors.
30a
Similar observations apply to
criminal investigations by the United
States Attorney and a grand jury in Denver
in 1973. There is no doubt there were
similarities and relationships between
the matters explored there and the trans-
actions on which defendants have been con-
victed here. Equally beyond doubt, the
instant transactions are separate and dis-
tinct from those pursued in Colorado. The
Colorado prosecutor had, or had access to,
some of the evidence and witnesses embraced
in our trial record. At least as impres-
sive is the catalogue of key witnesses and
materials in the instant case unknown or
unavailable to the Colorado investigators.
There is in sum no basis for in-
puting to the Government "fault" in any
possibly pertinent sense for the delay in
proceeding to indict the defendants.
The argument for setting aside
the convictions and dismissing for pre-
3la
indictment delay is not stronger ir its
remaining material aspect, the claim of
prejudice. It is never a good thing to
have long delays between events and the
effort to reconstruct them in lawsuits.
Memories do fade. People die. Things
are lost. Several instances of such re-
gretable losses exist in this case.
Viewed in perspective, however, they com-
prise no substantial picture of injury to
the defendants in fighting the charges
against them. It is not necessary to
track each of the items of lost or faded
evidence defendants say they would or might
have had if the case had been brought ear-
lier. The specific items are treated by
the Government in a response the court
finds sound and sufficient in substantially
every detail. (See affidavit of John R.
Wing, Esq., sworn August 2, 1976, pars. 14-
31.) It is sufficient to note that many
of the claims thus refuted are improbable
32a
and conjectural to a large degree, most
notably the things defendants "believe"
the late Mr. Cowett would or might have
said. Some of these speculations, aside
from their improbability, go beyond any
plausible rationale the defense might have
invoked had the witness survived. Other
claims of this nature relate to details of
a peripheral and subordinate character,
matters that could not have been of conse-
quence in the jury's deliberations. The
whole account, seen in the light of the
evidence, including defendants’ own, that
was available and heard, leaves the court
with a definite conviction that defendants
were not injured to any material extent by
the lapse of time. To put the point more
positively, the testimony of some 49 wit-
nesses and the large volume of exhibits
appear convincingly to justify as reliable
and accurate the conclusions the jury de-
clared it had reached beyond a reasonable
33a
doubt.
Thus, defendants show neither
intentional delay for tactical advantage
nor measurable prejudice, both of which
would seem requisite to their position.
United States v. Eucker, Docket Nos. 75-
1246, etc., (2d Cir. 3-8-76), slip op. at
2468. Their application for dismissal or,
alternatively, a hearing on the claim of
pre-indictment delay will be denied.
2. A second argument in which
both defendants join is another renewal of
a pretrial position: that use immunity or
derivative use immunity they acquire under
§7(a)(10) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.
§25(a)(10), when testifying in bankruptcy
proceedings was violated in their indict-
ment (and then in their trial) requiring
erasure of their convictions and dismissal
of the indictment. The position has been
re-examined at length and with care.
Defendants, after the trial, were given
4a
extensive access to government files, rec-
ords, and working papers. Defense counsel
were permitted to cross-examine at length
Mr. Thomson Von Stein, the SEC attorney
who had investigated the pertinent events
in 1973, had thus been instrumental in
bringing about the criminal reference, and
later came to assist in the preparation
2 Accepting the
and conduct of the trial.
credibility of the Assistant United States
Attorneys who tried the case, defense coun-
sel disclaimed any desire to interrogate
them. Upon the amplified record, the
court reaffirms the prior ruling.
In treating this subject, the
court assumes that the defendants' failure
ever to claim immunity in giving their
bankruptcy testimony is not a bar to the
contention now made. See United States v.
Dornau, 491 F. 2d 473, 480 n.13 (2d Cir.),
cert. denied, 419 U.S. 872 (1974). It is
also assumed, but with far greater doubt,
35a
that “taint” of the kind asserted could
suffice to vitiate an indictment duly found
and conviction so solidly supported. See
id., 491 F.2d at 481 n. 15, and the refer-
ence there to United States v. Calandra,
414 U.S. 338, 345 (1974),
Proceeding from such assumptions,
the court finds here a totally convincing
demonstration by the prosecution that there
Was no use or derived use of the kind def-
endants posit. Clear, specific, and cred-
ible accounts are given to display the un-
tainted sources of the Government's wit-
nesses and other evidence. Cross-examina-
tion has not served to impair the persuas-
ive showing made by the Government on this
subject. For all their speculations be-
fore and after trial, defendants adduce
no substantial grounds on which the court
could reject the prosecution's position
that the evidence to indict and convict
was “derived from the independent sources
36a
described in the government affidavits."
United States v. Boyd, 404 F. Supp. 413,
417 (S.D.N.Y. 1975), aff'd, Docket No.
75-1393 (2d Cir. 4-15-76). This is dis-
positive, apart from the several alterna-
tive refutations, including the independ-
ently sufficient proposition, which the
court reaffirms, that the claimed immunity
was not available to defendant Boucher in
any event.
Defendants rely heavily upon the
idea that the Government's burden to show
the absence of taint is "insurmountable"
or at least "virtually undischargeable"
once it is shown that any government per-
son saw any of the immunized testimony or
any reflection of it. But the quoted ad-
jectives come from a case, United States
v. McDaniel, 482 F.2d 305, 311, 312 (8th
Cir. 1973), where the immunized testimony,
given before a grand jury, comprised three
volumes (1) in which the defendant had
37a
“fully confessed his misdeeds" and (2)
which “were read in their entirety by the
United States Attorney * * * when * * *
[he] was unaware that the testimony came
pursuant to a grant of immunity, and he
therefore could have perceived no reason
to segregate * * * [the] testimony from
his other sources of information." Id. at
311. Assuming that the impossible burden
announced in the cited case would ever be
prescribed in this Circuit, the present
circumstances are notably different.
Apart from the fact that none of
the material was read by the prosecutors
herein, and little by the SEC attorney,
defendants have been notably vague and in-
consistent in saying what "leads" or other
uses should be thought to have come from
their bankruptcy testimony. Defendant
King has said substantially nothing in
response to the suggestion that he be con-
crete and specific in this respect.
38a
Defendant Boucher has offered some specific
suggestions, but they are modest and unim-
pressive in the setting of the record as a
whole. Indeed, defendant Boucher, not re-
quired of course to be foolishly consistent,
argues in a prior branch of his post-trial
motions that the Government's case against
him “totally and almost exclusively relies
upon the tessimony of one Robert Hulsey
(Affidavit of Andrew J. Maloney, Esq.,
sworn July 22, 1976, par. 4), obviously not
derived from or traceable to the bankruptcy
testimony. And both defendants have argued
strenuously in another connection that the
evidence against them was largely available
to the Government before and apart from
any bankruptcy testimony.
In sum, assuming many issues in
defendants' favor, including the proposi-
tion that the Government has a heavy bur-
den to disprove taint, the court finds the
burden to have been met in this case.
39a
3. There was a pretrial motion
to change the venue to Denver, Colorado.
The motion was substantial. For various
reasons, however, including the seemingly
inevitable prospect that Denver would be
only a stopping-place preceding another
shift (to avoid publicity), the motion was
denied. Now, defendants argue the trial
in New York denied them due process.
It seems evident, as it did
before trial, that the proceeding here
added to the hardships defendants would
have borne in Denver, or in some other
city nearer to Denver than this. Never-
theless, the post-trial claims scarcely
approach due process proportions; upon
analysis, they add substantially nothing
to what was considered before trial.
Defendant King tenders a long list of
“potential witnesses * * * who resided in
the Denver area or points west * * * "9
He does not say what evidence they would
40a
have given or, more importantly, why none
of them was called. Similarly, he says it
would have been enormously costly to sub-
poena scores of potential witnesses, ten-
dering travel expenses, but the details
are again vague, and it is by no means denm-
onstrated that any such lavish course was
necessary Or appropriate. Once more, the
factual predicate of the motion is specu-
lative and unpersuasive.
Even the insistent claims of
financial hardship have been left as bare
arguments of counsel, despite opportuni-
ties and invitations for more solid docu-
mentation. It is the court's recollection
that defendants were invited during trial
to give financial statements, with the un-
derstanding that assistance under the
Criminal Justice Act or by other means
would be sought for them if at all possible
on any plausible and generous appraisal of
their circumstances. Defendants chose not
4la
to pursue this possibility, perhaps, as
King's counsel now says on behalf of
Boucher, because of “wrongful pride and
the presence of a Denver news correspond-
é or for other
ent in the courtroom",
humanly appealing and understandable rea-
sons. The fact remains that mere asser-
tions by counsel, without doubting their
sincerity for a second, cannot sustain a
due process argument for nullifying the
verdicts in question.”
4, If the bounds of adversary
fairness are narrower than those of love
and war, it remains standard practice
after conviction to charge "prosecutorial
misconduct." Defense counsel, serving
until recently as illustrious targets,
follow the practice here at impressive
length and with gusto. It seems sufficient
to acknowledge that the prosecutors may
have caused a blemish or two, marring the
perfection for which we all strive in vain,
42a
and that references should be eschewed
from now on to what kind of defense money
can buy. It is also necessary and agree-
able to add that these same prosecutors
displayed through a long trial wholly ad-
mirable qualities of fairness, restraint,
and professional rectitude. However iso-
lated phrases look in post-trial briefs,
this is a case in which the routine assault
upon the prosecutors might perhaps have
been foregone.
5. Other grounds of the motions
have been dealt with orally or, in any
event, require no additions to this memo-
randum.
Defendants' post-trial motions
are in all respects denied.
So ordered.
Dated: New York, New York
September 1, 1976
U. S. D. Jd.
43a
FOOTNCTES
1. For example, defendants suggest that
Cowett maybe would have said he "auth-
Orized" side deals with the Arctic
purchasers. Armstrong Affidavit, sworn
July 22, 1976, p. 34 Or, defendants
continue, Cowett might have known a
King company gave Mecom the $275,000
for his down payment on a supposedly
arm's length sale to Mecom. While
such imagined testimony might have
paved Cowett's way to jail, it is
scarcely the kind of probable loss
from which they can now show prejudice.
2. The sentence was adjourned for about
three weeks beyond the original date
(which had been set for some seven
weeks after the verdict) to accommo-
date a generous schedule for prepara-
tion, briefing, and argument, all in
addition, of course, to the months
available for this subject prior to
trial. After the hearing and a time
for still further supplemental brief-
ing, on August 25, 1976, counsel for
defendant King delivered a letter re-
porting the discovery of further mate-
rial that might be pertinent and re-
questing further delay to explore the
material. The court declines to ex-
tend any further the time for reolu-
tion of this motion and the imposition
of sentence.
3. Boucher is not helped by a new and
strained suggestion that there was an
invasion of "a zone of information
that achieved a sanctity comparable
to the confidential communications be-
tween attorney and client." Supple-
mental Memorandum 10.
Lia
The court would reach this result even
if there had been some slight and acci-
dental leakage from the bankruptcy pro-
ceeding to this one. The drastic rem-
edy of voiding an indictment and con-
viction ought to be available, if at
all, when the prophylaxis serves a sub-
stantial end, punishing some substan-
tial invasion. Here, never claiming
immunity, never seeking to have their
testimony shielded from the widest dis-
semination in the press and elsewhere,
defendants were in no sense whipsawed
or imposed upon. On the other side,
as the grand jury and trial minutes
show, there was no purpose to evade or
to slight defendants' rights. MThis
would be, in short, a fortuitous and
slightly magical reason for concluding
now that defendants should not have
been rried and convicted after all.
Affidavit of Michael F. Armstrong,
Esqe, sworn to July 22, 1976, par. 15.
Id., par. 18.
In explaining this conclusion, the
court has not overlooked, but has
deemed it unnecessary to retrace, fur-
ther points made by government counsel.
It is fair to say, however, that such
points have weight: e.g., the long
and costly preparation defendants obvi-
ously did manage; the ample discovery
they were given; the obvious friendli-
ness to them of many of the people,
including a large proportion of the
Government's witnesses, having knowl-
edge of the relevant events; and the
probable willingness of many such peo-
ple to stand ready to testify whether
or not they were tendered travel expenses
long in advance and on a standby basis.
45a
APPENDIX C
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
SECOND CIRCUIT
At a Stated Term of the United States
Court of Appeals, in and for the Second
Circuit, held at the United States Court
House, in the City of New York, on the
twenty-fourth day of August, one thousand
nine hundred and seventy-seven.
Present: HON. J. EDWARD LUMBARD,
HON. WILLIAM H. TIMBERS
Circuit Judges
HON. OSCAR H. DAVIS
Court of Claims
United States of America,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
Ve
76-1435
John M. King,
A. Rowland Boucher,
Defendants-Appellants.
wee ee ee ee
A petition for a rehearing hav-
ing been filed herein by counsel for the
appellant, A. Rowland Boucher
Upon consideration thereof, it
46a
is
Ordered that said petition be and
it hereby is denied.
A. DANIEL FUSARO
Clerk
47a
APPENDIX D
May 21, 1976
Hon. Marvin E. Frankel
United States District Court
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
Foley Square - Room 2002
New York, New York 10007
Re: U.S. v. King and Boucher, 75 Cr. 70
Dear Judge Frankel:
Enclosed please find 4 pages
which were just hand delivered to me by.
A. Rowland Boucher and which were obtained
by him yesterday from the United States
Courthouse, Denver, Colorado. The remain-
ing transcript, I was just informed by
Boucher, is 6 to 8 inches thick and remains
in the courthouse in Denver.
The enclosed transcript is evi-
dence that at a very early date, October
1971, the SEC, represented by Mr. Waldeck,
was made aware of the possibility, if not
probability of immunity under the bankrupt-
cy act and until this issue was raised at
the llth hour by the defendant Boucher,
the court and his counsel were totally in
the dark.
It is our firm belief that the
government had an affirmative duty to in-
form Boucher at least of the enclosed
transcript and he should not now suffer
the hardship of a lengthy trial because
of that derelection.
With respect to Your Honor's
48a
Opinion filed this date; we respectfully
submit page two of your opinion is incor-
rect when it states, "no one connected
with this prosecution has access to or
read the bankruptcy testimony". See Von
Stein's affidavit submitted by the Govern-
ment; Mr. Wing's affidavit to which is
attached excerpts from the 1971, Dallas
Texas, proceeding.
Very truly yours,
Andrew J. Maloney
cc: John R. Wing, Esq.
Michael F. Armstrong, Esq.
Parties on Enclosed Transcript:
Mr. Waldeck, SEC
Mr. Gesas, Attorney KRC
Mr. Neary, Attorney for
Trade Creditors Committee
49a
[89]
MR. WALDECK: If Mr. Boucher
understands what I've said, I will be
satisfied with that, Your Honor.
MR. GESAS: May I address
the Court, please? There's a recent
statute --
THE REFEREE: Yes, I know.
MR. GESAS: -- which provides
for immunity automatically when testi-
mony is given. Now, let us consider
the --
MR. WALDECK: Your Honor,
it is my contention that Mr. Boucher
is not being called pursuant to Sec-
tion 7Al10, which Section provides a
blanket immunity, rather it is my
contention he is being called either
as additional Trustee or as a chief
executive of the company to testify
on the question of venue, not to ren-
der the statement of affairs, which
50a
the officer of a bankrupt is required
to render and to submit to examina-
tion with respect to -- in connection
with Section 7A10, Section 21A or Sec-
tion 167.
MR. GESAS: Your Honor, I
didn't want to be understood as claim-
ing this immunity. Assuming I was in
a position to
[90]
claim it for Mr. Boucher individually,
which I am not. I'm only pointing out
that inasmuch as we're discussing
privilege that we better have every-
thing on the boards. Now, it may be
that Mr. Waldeck is correct, I guess
he'll have to live with that prospect
if he’s wrong and I merely took the
liberty of saying, and as the Court
is well aware of, that there is a
problem in this area. What the con-
struction of 7Al10 or 167 is I certainly
5la
have no expertise to determine --
THE REFEREE: Mr. Waldeck
and Mr. Gesas, may I see you at the
bench, please?
(Whereupon a discus-
amet a held at the
THE REFEREE: All right, Mr.
Boucher, would you take the stand and
then Mr. Waldeck will make a statement
to you.
MR. A. ROWLAND BOUCHER,
having been first duly sworn to tell the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth, testified on his oath as follows:
THE REFEREE: All right, Mr.
Waldeck.
MR. WALDECK: Mr. Boucher,
do you
[92]
understand, Sir, that anything you
state here today could be used against
you?
52a
THE WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALDECK: And do you
understand, Sir, that you need not
answer any question which you believe
will tend to incriminate you, Sir?
THE WITNESS: I do.
MR. WALDECK: And do you
understand that you need not testify?
THE WITNESS: Yes, I do.
MR. WALDECK: And do you
understand that you are entitled to
a personal Counsel to represent you
personally?
THE WITNESS: Yes, I do.
MR. WALDECK: And given
these understandings are you never-
theless willing to testify?
THE WITNESS: Yes, I am.
MR. GESAS: By the state-
ments in answer to Mr. Waldeck, you
do not, by those statements, waive
any general immunity you may be
53a
entitled to?
THE WITNESS: No, sir.
MR. WALDECK: The question of
[92]
immunity is one of law. I am quite --
MR. GESAS: Sure, but inas-
much as the statements have been ren-
dered, I want to be sure that does
initiate the law in regard to that.
THE REFEREE: All right, Mr.
Boucher, you responded to the state-
ments of Mr. Waldeck, I believe, in
the affirmative?
THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
THE REFEREE: All right, you
may proceed, Mr. Neary.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. NEARY: ,
Q Mr. Boucher, would you state your
full name for the record.
A A. Rowland Boucher.
Q And what is your present position
Sha
with King Resources Company?
A Chief Executive Officer of the
King Resources Company and Additional
Trustee.
Q And you are so serving at the
present time under appointment of this
Court?
A That is correct.
Q All right, have you given a
deposition in connection with this matter?
55a
APPENDIX E
Memo No. 744
TO: ALL UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS
SUBJECT: Bankruptcy Immunity Under the
Organized Crime Control Act of
1970 (Public Law 91-452, October
15, 1970)
As you know, Title II of the
above Act amended clause (10) of Section
7(a) of the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C.
25(a)) to provide that the automatic immu-
nity applicable to the testimony of the
bankrupt under the Section 7(a) is extended
to "any evidence which is directly or in-
directly derived from such testimony."
‘mis has the effect of barring the use of
any leads derived from the testimony of
the bankrupt in a criminal investigation
or prosecution.
Under 18 U.S.C. 3057 bankruptcy
referees, receivers, and trustees are re-
quired to report criminal violations to
United States Attorneys. With the enact-
ment of the new immunity provision, if
successful prosecution of the bankrupt is
to result from such referrals, it will be
necessary that the Government be in a posi-
tion to show that no evidence or leads
used in the investigation or prosecution
were directly or indirectly derived from
his immunized testimony. Since this will
require close cooperation between bank-
ruptcy officials, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and United States Attorneys,
we have discussed referral procedures un-
der the immunity statute with representa-
tives of the Bankruptcy Division, Adminis-
56a
trative Office of the United States Courts.
While it is recognized by all concerned
that no referral procedures can be devel-
oped that will preserve the criminal case
in all instances, certain safeguards can
be undertaken that, if followed, might rea-
sonably be expected to protect against in-
advertent use of the bankrupt's testimony
in developing a criminal case against him.
The Bankruptcy Division of the
United States Courts has agreed to recom-
mend the following procedures to bankruptcy
referees in handling criminal referrals in
bankruptcy proceedings:
(1) In criminal referrals based
upon evidence or leads not directly or in-
directly obtained from the testimony of
the bankrupt, the existing referral proce-
dures will be followed.
(2) In any case in which the bank-
rupt testifies and a criminal investigation
is underway or is anticipated, the bankrupt-
cy referee will order that no one shall
have access to the transcript of the bank-
rupt's testimony without first identifying
himself and signing an appropriate record
reflecting that he has requested and been
granted access to the transcript. Adoption
of this procedure will assist the Govern-
ment in showing in any subsequent criminal
proceeding that the prosecution did not
have the benefit of a review of that por-
tion of the bankruptcy record.
(3) In addition, in any case in
which the bankrupt testifies and a criminal
investigation is underway or is anticipated,
the bankruptcy referee will appropriately
advise trustees, receivers, creditors,
attorneys, and other persons who heard the
57a
bankrupt's testimony that, in the event
they are interviewed concerning criminal
aspects of the case, no disclosure should
be made concerning the content of the inm-
munized testimony of the bankrupt.
(4) In any instance in which the
only evidence of criminality is developed
in the bankrupt's testimony, the referee
will refer the case to the United States
Attorney for possible criminal investiga-
tion without making reference to any in-
formation based directly or indirectly
upon the bankrupt's testimony. The United
States Attorney will request the Federal
Bureau of Investigation to conduct a limi-
ted investigation, possibly including a
review of available books and records and
the bankrupt's schedules, to determine whe-
ther there is independent evidence upon
which a criminal investigation may be predi-
cated. (The Criminal Division recognizes
that the argument may be raised that the
immunity bars a referral based solely upon
the immunized testimony, but it is believed
that in cases of significant import, at
least, the Department has a responsibility
to investigate. )
(5) When the bankrupt is a corpo-
ration, bankruptcy referees will consider
the feasibility of clearly designating an
individual not suspected of criminal con-
duct as the person to represent the bank-
rupt under 11 U.S.C. 25(b), thus possibly
avoiding a grant of immunity to a prospec-
tive criminal defendant.
In any instances in which a bank-
ruptcy criminal investigation is initiated
on the basis of information derived from
sources Other than the bankruptcy referee
or a bankruptcy proceeding, United States
58a
Attorneys should be alert to apprize the
bankruptcy referee of the investigation in
order that, if necessary, he may institute
the above safeguards. United States Attor-
neys are reminded to advise bankruptcy ref-
erees Of the disposition of criminal inves-
tigations in bankruptcy matters.
Bankruptcy referees and United
States Attorneys should be alert to the
fact that the immunity under the Act ex-
tends only to the bankrupt. Incriminating
testimony of witnesses other than the bank-
rupt may properly be the subject of a rou-
tine referral under 18 U.S.C. 3057.
In developing these referral pro-
cedures, consideration was given to the
question whether the immunity conferred in
a Section 7(a) hearing (first meeting of
creditors) is applicable to subsequent pro-
ceedings conducted pursuant to Section 21(a)
of the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C. 44(a)).
There is case law supporting the argument
that the Congress did not intend that the
immunity be applicable to a 21(a) hearing.
However, the Second Circuit has questioned
this distinction on the basis that a 21(a)
hearing is merely a continuation of the
7(a) hearing and, therefore, the immunity
attaches. While the discussions on this
point are dicta, the reasoning of the Sec-
ond Circuit is persuasive and might well
be adopted by the Supreme Court if the
issue were brought before it. See Uni
States v. Weisman, 219 F.2d 837 (1955);
eal States v. Castellana, 344 F.2d 264
1965).
United States Attorneys are re-
quested to keep the Fraud Section advised
of significant problems and developments
in the application of these immunity pro-
59a
visions.
Copies of this memorandum are
being furnished to the Bankruptcy Division
of the United States Courts and the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation for their
information.
/s/ Will Wilson
WILL WILSON
Assistant Attorney General
Criminal Division
60a
APPENDIX F
§ 25. Duties of bankrupts
(a) The bankrupt shall (1) attend at the first meeting of his
creditors, at the hearing upon objections, if any, to his application
for a discharge and at such other times as the court shail order;
(2) comply with al! lawfu! orders of the court; (3) examine and
report to his trustee concerning the correctness of all proofs of
claim filed against his estate; (4) execute and deliver such papers
as shall be ordered by the court; (5) execute and deliver to his trus-
tee transfers of all his property in foreign countries; (6) immedi-
ately inform his trustee of any attempt by his creditors or other
persons to evade the provisions of this title coming to his knowledge;
(7) in case of any person having to his knowledge proved a false
claim against his estate, disclose that fact immediately to his trus-
tee; (8) prepare, make oath to, and file in court within five days
after adjudication, if an involuntary bankrupt, and with his petition,
if a voluntary bankrupt, a schedule of his property, showing the
amount and kind of property, the location thereof and its money
value, in detail; and a list of all his creditors, including al! persons
asserting contingent, unliquidated, or disputed claims, showing their
residences or places of business, if known, or if unknown that fact
to be stated. the amount due to or claimed by each of them, the con-
sideration thereof, the security held by them, if any, and what
claims, if any, are contingent, unliquidated or disputed; and a
claim for such exemptions as he may be entitled to; all in triplicate,
one copy for the clerk, one for the referee, and one for the trustee: |
Provided, however, That the court may for cause shown grant fur-
ther time for the filing of such schedules if, with his petition in a
voluntary proceeding or with his application to have such time
extended in an involuntary proceeding, the bankrupt files a list of
all such creditors and their addresses; (9) file in triplicate with the
court at least five days prior to the first meeting of his creditors a
statement of his affairs in such form as may be prescribed by the
Supreme Court; (10) at the first meeting of his creditors, at the
hearing upon objections, if any, to his discharge and at such other
times as the court shal) order, submit to an examination concerning
the conducting of his business, the cause of his bankruptcy, his deal-
ings with his creditors and other persons, the amount, kind, and
whereabouts of his property, and, in addition, al] matters which
may affect the administration and settlement of his estate or the
granting of his discharge; but no testimony given by him shall be
offered in evidence against him in any criminal proceeding, except
such testimony as may be given by him in the hearing upon objec-
tions to his discharge: Provided, however, That when the bankrupt
is required to attend for examination, except at the first meeting
6la
end at the hearing upon objections, if any, to his discharge, he shall
be paid actual and necessary traveling expenses for any distance
in excess of one hundred miles from his piace of residence at the date
of bankruptcy: And provided further, That the court may for cause
shown, and upon such terms and conditions as the court may im-
pose, permit the bankrupt to be examined at such place as the court
may direct whether within or without the district in which the pro-
ceedings are pending; and (11) when required by the court, pre-
pare, verify, and file with the court in duplicate a detailed inven-
tory, showing the cost to him of his merchandise or of such other
property as may be designated, as of the date of his bankruptcy.
(b) Where the bankrupt is a corporation, its officers, the members
of its board of directors or trustees or of other similar controlling
bodies, its stockholders or members, or such of them as may be
designated by the court, shall perform the duties imposed upon the
bankrupt by this title. July 1, 1898, c. 541, § 7, 30 Stat. 548; May 27,
1926, c. 406, § 4, 44 Stat. 663; Jume 22, 1938, c. 575, § 1, 52 Stat. 847;
July 7, 1952, c. 579, § 4, 66 Stat. 422.
62a
APPENDIX G
§ 502. Application of other provisions
The provisions of chapters 1 to 7, inclusive, of this title shall, in-
sofar as they are not inconsistent or in conflict with the provisions
of this chapter, apply in proceedings under this chapter: Provided,
however, That section 46, subdivisions (h) and (n) of section 93,
section 104, and subdivision (f) of section 110 of this title, shal! not
apply in such proceedings unless an order shai] be eniered directing
that bankruptcy be proceeded with pursuant to the provisions of
chapters 1 to 7, inclusive. For the purposes of such application,
provisions relating to “bankrupts” shall be deemed to relate also to
“debtors”, and “bankruptcy proceedings” or “proccedings in bank-
ruptcy” shall be deemed to include proceedings under this chapter.
For the purposes of such application the date of the filing of the
petition in bankruptcy shall be taken to be the date of the filing of
an origina! petition under section 528 of this title, and the date of
adjudication shall be taken to be the date of approval) of a petition
filed under section 527 or 528 of this title except where an adjudica-
tion had previously been entered.
July 1, 1898, c. 541, § 102, as added June 22, 1938, c. 575, § 1, 52
Stat. §33. ;
63a
APPENDIX H
§ 567. Powers and duties; trustee
The trustee upon his appointment and qualification—
(1) shall, if the judge shall so direct, forthwith investigate the
acts, conduct, property, liabilities, and financial condition of the
debtor, the operation of its business and the desirability of the con-
tinuance therecf, and any other matter relevant to the proceeding or
to the formulation of a plan, and report thereon to the judge;
(2) may, if the judge shall so direct, examine the directors and
officers of the debtor and any other witnesses concerning the fore-
going matters or any of them;
(3) shall report to the judge any facts ascertained by him per-
taining to fraud, misconduct, mismanagement and irregularities, and
to any causes of action available to the estate;
(4) may, subject to the approval of the judge, employ such person
or persons as the judge may deem necessary for the purpose of as-
sisting the trustee in performing the duties imposed upon him under
this chapter;
(5) shall, at the earliest date practicable, prepare and submit a
brief statement of his investigation of the property, liabilities, and
financial] condition of the debtor, the operation of its busiuess and
the desirability of the continuance thereof, in such ferm and man-
ner as the judge may direct, to the creditors, stockholders, indenture
trustees, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and such other
persons as the judge may designate; and
(6) shall give notice to the creditors and stockholders that they
may submit to him suggestions for the formulation of a plan, or pro-
posals in the form of plans, within a time therein named.
July 1, 1898, c. 541, § 167, as added June 22, 1938, c. 575, § 1, 52 Stat.
890.
64a
APPENDIX I
§ 1406. munmunity of witnesses
Whenever in the judgment of a United States attorney the testi:
mony of any witness, or the production of books, papers, or other
evidence by apy witness, in any case or proceeding before ang grand
jury or court of the United States involving any violation ef—
(1) any provision of part I or part II of subchapter A of
chapter 29 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 the penalty fcr
which is provided in subsection (a) or (b) of section 7237 of
such Code,
(2) subsection (c), (h), or (i) of section 2 of the Narcoti¢
Drugs Import and Export Act, as amended (21 U.S.C., sec. 174)»
or
(3) the Act of July 11, 1941, as amended (21 U.S.C., sec. 1848).
is necessary to the public interest, he, upon the approval) of the AY
torney General, shall make applicaticn to the court that the witness
shall be instructed to testify or produce evidence subject to the pro-
cisions of this section, and upon order of the court such witness
shall not be excused from testifying or from producing books, papers,
or other evidence on the ground that the testimony or evidence re-
quired of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to a penalty
or forfeiture. But no such witness shall be prosecuted or subjected
‘o any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction,
matter, or thing concerning which he is compelled, after having
claimed his privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or pro-
duce evidence, nor shal] testimony so compelled be used as evidence
in any crimina] proceeding (exeept prosecution described in the
next sentence) against him iu any court. No witness shall be exempt
erder this section from prosecution for perjury or contempt com-
mitted while giving testimony or producing evidence under compul-
sion as provided in this section. Added July 18, 1956, c. 629, Title II,
$ 201, 70 Stat. 574.
65a
APPENDIX J
§ 2514. Immunity of witnesses
Whenever in the judgment of a United States attorney the testi-
mony of any witness, or the production of books, papers, or other
evidence by any witness, in any case or proceeding before any grand
jury or court of the United States involving any violation of this
chapter or any of the offenses enumerated in section 2516, or any
conspiracy to violate this chapter or any of the offenses enumerated
in section 2516 is necessary to the public interest, such United States
attorney, upon the approval of the Attorney General, shal] make ap-
plication to the court that the witness shall be instructed to testify
or produce evidence subject to the provisions of this section, and
upon order of the court such witness shal] not be excused from tes-
tifying or from producing books, papers, or other evidence on the
ground that the testimony or evidence required of him may tend to
incriminate him or subject him to penalty or forfeiture. No such
witness shal] be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture
for or on account of any transaction, matter or thing concernins
which he is compelled, after having claimed his privilege agains‘
self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence, nor shal] testimony
so compelled be used as evidence in any criminal proceeding (except
in a proceeding described in the next sentence) against him in any
court. No witness shall be exempt under this section from prosecu-
tion for perjury or contempt committed while giving testimony cr
producing evidence under compulsion as previded in this section.
Added Pub.L. 90-351, Title III, § 802, June 19, 1968, 82 Stat. 216.
66a
APPENDIX K
§ 3486. Compelled testimony tending to incriminate wit-
nesses; immunity
(a) In the course of any investigation relating to any interfer-
ence with or endangering of, or any plans or attempts to interfere
with or endanger the national security or defense of the United
States by treason, sabotage, espionage, sedition, seditious conspiracy
or the overthrow of its Government by force or violence, no witness
sha)) be excused from testifying or from producing books, papers,
or other evidence before either House, or before any committee of
either House, or before any joint committee of the two Houses of
Cungress on the ground that the testimony or evidence required of
him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to a penalty or for-
feiture, when the record shows that—
(1) in the case of proceedings before one of the Houses of
Congress, that a majority of the members present of that House;
or
(2) in the case of proceedings before a committee, that two-
thirds of the members of the ful] committee shal] by affirmative
vote have authorized such witness to be granted immunity un-
der this section wi.h respect to the transactions, matters, or
things concerning which he is compelled, after having claimed
his privilege against self-incrimination to testify or produce
evidence by direction of the presiding officer and
that an order cf the United States district court for the district
wherein the inquiry is being carried on has been entered into the
record requiring said person to testify or produce evidence. Such
an order may be issued by a United States district court judge upon
application by a duly authorized representative of the Congress or
of the committee concerned. But no such witness shall be prose-
cuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of
any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he is so com-
pelled, after having claimed his privilege against self-incrimination,
to testify or produce evidence, nor shall testimony so compelled be
used as evidence in any criminal proceeding (except prosecutions
described in subsection (d) hereof) against him in any court.
(b) Neither House nor any committee thereof nor any joint com-
mittee of the two Houses of Congress shall grant immunity to any
witness without first having notified the Attorney General of the
United States of such action and thereafter having secured the ap-
proval of the United States district court for the district wherein
such inquiry is being held. The Attorney Genera] of the United
States shall be notified of the time of each proposed application to
67a
the United States district court and shall be given the opportunity
to be heard with respect thereto prior to the entrance into the record
of the order of the district court.
(c) Whenever in the judgment of a United States attorney the
testimony of any witness, or the production of books, papers, or
other evidence by any witness, in any case or proceeding before any
grand jury or court of the United States involving any violation of
section 1751 of title 18 of the United States Code, or involving any
interference with or endangering of, or any plans or attempts to
interfere with or endanger, the national security or defense of the
United States by treason, sabotage, espionage, sedition, seditious
conspiracy, violations of chapter 115 of title 18 of the United States
Code, violations of the Internal Security Act of 1950 (64 Stat. 987),
violations of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 755), as amend-
ed, violations of sections 212(a) (27), (28), (29) or 241(a) (6), (7)
or 313(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 182-186;
204-206; 240-241), and conspiracies involving any of the foregoing,
is necessary to the public interest, he, upon the approval of the At-
torney General, shal] make application to the court that the wit-
ness shal] be instructed to testify or produce evidence subject to
the provisions of this section, and upon order of the court such wit-
ness shal! not be excused from testifying or from producing books,
papers, or other evidence on the ground that the testimony or evi-
dence required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him
to a penalty or forfeiture. But no such witness shall be prosecuted
or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any
transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he is compelled after
having claimed his privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or
produce evidence, nor shall testimony so compelled be used as evi-
dence in any criminal proceeding (except prosecution described in
subsection (d) hereof) against him in any court.
(d) No witness shall be exempt under the provision of this sec-
tion from prosecution for perjury or contempt committed while giv-
ing testimony or producing evidence under compulsion as provided in
this section.
This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.