Case Name: BRASWELL v. UNITED STATES
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1988-06-22
Citations: 487 U.S. 99
Docket Number: No. 87-3
Parties: BRASWELL v. UNITED STATES
Judges: Rehnquist, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which White, Blackmun, Stevens, and O’Connor, JJ., joined. Kennedy, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Brennan, Marshall, and Scalia, JJ., joined, -post, p. 119.
Reporter: United States Reports
Volume: 487
Pages: 99–130

Head Matter:
BRASWELL v. UNITED STATES
No. 87-3.
Argued March 1, 1988
Decided June 22, 1988
Rehnquist, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which White, Blackmun, Stevens, and O’Connor, JJ., joined. Kennedy, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Brennan, Marshall, and Scalia, JJ., joined, -post, p. 119.
Michael S. Fawer argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the brief was Herbert V. Larson, Jr.
Roy T. Englert, Jr., argued the cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Solicitor. General Fried, Assistant Attorney General Weld, Deputy Solicitor General Bryson, and Joel M. Gershowitz.
David S. Rudolf filed a brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amicus curiae.

Opinion:
Chief Justice Rehnquist
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case presents the question whether the custodian of corporate records may resist a subpoena for such records on the ground that the act of production would incriminate him in violation of the Fifth Amendment. We conclude that he may not.
From 1965 to 1980, petitioner Randy Braswell operated his business — which comprises the sale and purchase of equip ment, land, timber, and oil and gas interests — as a sole proprietorship. In 1980, he incorporated Worldwide Machinery Sales, Inc., a Mississippi corporation, and began conducting the business through that entity. In 1981, he formed a second Mississippi corporation, Worldwide Purchasing, Inc., and funded that corporation with the 100 percent interest he held in Worldwide Machinery. Petitioner was and is the sole shareholder of Worldwide Purchasing, Inc.
Both companies are active corporations, maintaining their current status with the State of Mississippi, filing corporate tax returns, and keeping current corporate books and records. In compliance with Mississippi law, both corporations have three directors, petitioner, his wife, and his mother. Although his wife and mother are secretary-treasurer and vice-president of the corporations, respectively, neither has any authority over the business affairs of either corporation.
In August 1986, a federal grand jury issued a subpoena to "Randy Braswell, President Worldwide Machinery Sales, Inc. [and] Worldwide Purchasing, Inc.," App. 6, requiring petitioner to produce the books and records of the two corporations. The subpoena provided that petitioner could deliver the records to the agent serving the subpoena, and did not require petitioner to testify. Petitioner moved to quash the subpoena, arguing that the act of producing the records would incriminate him in violation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The District Court denied the motion to quash, ruling that the "collective entity doctrine" prevented petitioner from asserting that his act of producing the corporations' records was protected by the Fifth Amendment. The court rejected petitioner's argument that the collective entity doctrine does not apply when a corporation is so small that it constitutes nothing more than the individual's alter ego.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed, citing Bellis v. United States, 417 U. S. 85, 88 (1974), for the proposition that a corporation's records custodian may not claim a Fifth Amendment privilege no matter how small the corporation may be. The Court of Appeals declared that Bellis retained vitality following United States v. Doe, 465 U. S. 605 (1984), and therefore, "Braswell, as custodian of corporate documents, has no act of production privilege under the fifth amendment regarding corporate documents." In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 814 F. 2d 190, 193 (1987). We granted certiorari to resolve a conflict among the Courts of Appeals. 484 U. S. 814 (1987). We now affirm.
There is no question but that the contents of the subpoenaed business records are not privileged. See Doe, supra; Fisher v. United States, 425 U. S. 391 (1976). Similarly, petitioner asserts no self-incrimination claim on behalf of the corporations; it is well established that such artificial entities are not protected by the Fifth Amendment. Bellis, supra. Petitioner instead relies solely upon the argument that his act of producing the documents has independent testimonial significance, which would incriminate him individually, and that the Fifth Amendment prohibits Government compulsion of that act. The bases for this argument are extrapolated from the decisions of this Court in Fisher, supra, and Doe, supra.
In Fisher, the Court was presented with the question whether an attorney may resist a subpoena demanding that he produce tax records which had been entrusted to him by his client. The records in question had been prepared by the client's accountants. In analyzing the Fifth Amendment claim forwarded by the attorney, the Court considered whether the client-taxpayer would have had a valid Fifth Amendment claim had he retained the records and the subpoena been issued to him. After explaining that the Fifth Amendment prohibits "compelling a person to give 'testimony' that incriminates him," 425 U. S., at 409, the Court rejected the argument that the contents of the records were protected. The Court, however, went on to observe:
"The act of producing evidence in response to a subpoena nevertheless has communicative aspects of its own, wholly aside from the contents of the papers produced. Compliance with the subpoena tacitly concedes the existence of the papers demanded and their possession or control by the taxpayer. It also would indicate the taxpayer's belief that the papers are those described in the subpoena. Curcio v. United States, 354 U. S. 118, 125 (1957). The elements of compulsion are clearly present, but the more difficult issues are whether the tacit averments of the taxpayer aré both 'testimonial' and 'incriminating' for purposes of applying the Fifth Amendment. These questions perhaps do not lend themselves to categorical answers; their resolution may instead depend on the facts and circumstances of particular cases or classes thereof." Id., at 410.
The Court concluded that under the "facts and circumstances" there presented, the act of producing the accountants' papers would not "involve testimonial self-incrimination." Id., at 411.
Eight years later, in United States v. Doe, supra, the Court revisited the question, this time in the context of a claim by a sole proprietor that the compelled production of business records would run afoul of the Fifth Amendment. After rejecting the contention that the contents of the records were themselves protected, the Court proceeded to address whether respondent's act of producing the records would constitute protected testimonial incrimination. The Court concluded that respondent had established a valid Fifth Amendment claim. It deferred to the lower courts, which had found that enforcing the subpoenas at issue would provide the Government valuable information: By producing the records, respondent would admit that the records existed, were in his possession, and were authentic. 465 U. S., at 613, n. 11.
Had petitioner conducted his business as a sole proprietorship, Doe would require that he be provided the opportunity to show that his act of production would entail testimonial self-incrimination. But petitioner has operated his business through the corporate form, and we have long recognized that, for purposes of the Fifth Amendment, corporations and other collective entities are treated differently from individuals. This doctrine — known as the collective entity rule— has a lengthy and distinguished pedigree.
The rule was first articulated by the Court in the case of Hale v. Henkel, 201 U. S. 43 (1906). Hale, a corporate officer, had been served with a subpoena ordering him to produce corporate records and to testify concerning certain corporate transactions. Although Hale was protected by personal immunity, he sought to resist the demand for the records by interposing a Fifth Amendment privilege on behalf of the corporation. The Court rejected that argument: "[W]e are of the opinion that there is a clear distinction . . . between an individual and a corporation, and . . . the latter has no right to refuse to submit its books and papers for an examination at the suit of the State." Id., at 74. The Court explained that the corporation "is a creature of the State," ibid., with powers limited by the State. As such, the State may, in the exercise of its right to oversee the corporation, demand the production of corporate records. Id., at 75.
The ruling in Hale represented a limitation on the prior holding in Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616 (1886), which involved a court order directing partners to produce an invoice received by the partnership. The partners had produced the invoice, but steadfastly maintained that the court order ran afoul of the Fifth Amendment. This Court agreed. After concluding that the order transgressed the Fourth Amendment, the Court declared: "[A] compulsory production of the private books and papers of the owner of goods sought to be forfeited . is compelling him to be a witness against himself, within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution . ." Id., at 634-635 (emphasis added). Hale carved an exception out of Boyd by establishing that corporate books and records are not "private papers" protected by the Fifth Amendment.
Although Hale settled that a corporation has no Fifth Amendment privilege, the Court did not address whether a corporate officer could resist a subpoena for corporate records by invoking his personal privilege — Hale had been protected by immunity. In Wilson v. United States, 221 U. S. 361 (1911), the Court answered that question in the negative. There, a grand jury investigating Wilson had issued a subpoena to a corporation demanding the production of corporate letterpress copybooks, which Wilson, the corporation's president, possessed. Wilson refused to produce the books, arguing that, the Fifth Amendment prohibited compulsory production of personally incriminating books that he held and controlled. The Court rejected this argument, observing first that the records sought were not private or personal, but rather belonged to the corporation. The Court continued:
"[Wilson] held the corporate books subject to the corporate duty. If the corporation were guilty of misconduct, he could not withhold its books to save it; and if he were implicated in the violations of law, he could not withhold the books to protect himself from the effect of their disclosures. The [State's] reserved power of visitation would seriously be embarrassed, if not wholly defeated in its effective exercise, if guilty officers could refuse inspection of the records and papers of the corporation. No personal privilege to which they are entitled requires such a conclusion. . . . [T]he visitatorial power which exists with respect to the corporation of necessity reaches the corporate books without regard to the conduct of the custodian." Id., at 384-385.
". . . When [Wilson] became president of the corporation and as such held and used its books for the transaction of its business committed to his charge, he was at all times subject to its direction, and the books continuously remained under its control. If another took his place his custody would yield. He could assert no personal right to retain the corporate books against any demand of government which the corporation was bound to recognize." Id., at 385.
In a companion case, Dreier v. United States, 221 U. S. 394 (1911), the Court applied the holding in Wilson to a Fifth Amendment attack on a subpoena addressed to the corporate custodian. Although the subpoena in Wilson had been addressed to the corporation, the Court found the distinction irrelevant: "Dreier was not entitled to refuse the production of the corporate records. By virtue of the fact that they were the documents of the corporation in his custody, and not his private papers, he was under the obligation to produce them when called for by proper process." 221 U. S., at 400.
The next significant step in the development of the collective entity rule occurred in United States v. White, 322 U. S. 694 (1944), in which the Court held that a labor union is a collective entity unprotected by the Fifth Amendment. There, a grand jury had issued a subpoena addressed to a union requiring the production of certain ünion records. White, an assistant supervisor of the union, appeared before the grand jury and declined to produce the documents "'upon the ground that they might tend to incriminate [the union], myself as an officer thereof, or individually.'" Id., at 696.
We upheld an order of contempt against White, reasoning first that the Fifth Amendment privilege applies only to natural individuals and protects only private papers. Representatives of a "collective group" act as agents "[a]nd the official records and documents of the organization that are held by them in a representative rather than in a personal capacity cannot be the subject of the personal privilege against self-incrimination, even though production of the papers might tend to incriminate them personally." Id., at 699. With this principle in mind, the Court turned to whether a union is a collective group:
"The test . is whether one can fairly say under all the circumstances that a particular type of organization has a character so impersonal in the scope of its membership and activities that it cannot be said to embody or represent the purely private or personal interests of its constituents, but rather to embody their common or group interests only. If so, the privilege cannot be in voked on behalf of the organization or its representatives in their official capacity. Labor unions — national or local, incorporated or unincorporated — clearly meet that test." Id., at 701
In applying the collective entity rule to unincorporated associations such as unions, the Court jettisoned reliance on the visitatorial powers of the State over corporations owing their existence to the State — one of the bases for earlier decisions. See id., at 700-701.
The frontiers of the collective entity rule were expanded even further in Bellis v. United States, 417 U. S. 85 (1974), in which the Court ruled that a partner in a small partnership could not properly refuse to produce partnership records. Beilis, one of the members of a three-person law firm that had previously been dissolved, was served with a subpoena directing him to produce partnership records he possessed. The District Court held Beilis in contempt when he refused to produce the partnership's financial books and records. We upheld the contempt order. After rehearsing prior precedent involving corporations and unincorporated associations, the Court examined the partnership form and observed that it had many of the incidents found relevant in prior collective entity decisions. The Court suggested that the test articulated in White, supra, for determining the applicability of the Fifth Amendment to organizations was "not particularly helpful in the broad range of cases." 417 U. S., at 100. The Court rejected the notion that the "formulation in White can be reduced to a simple proposition based solely upon the size of the organization. It is well settled that no privilege can be claimed by the custodian of corporate records, regardless of how small the corporation may be." Ibid. Beilis held the partnership's financial records in "a representative capacity," id., at 101, and therefore, "his personal privilege against compulsory self-incrimination is inapplicable." Ibid.
The plain mandate of these decisions is that without regard to whether the subpoena is addressed to the corporation, or as here, to the individual in his capacity as a custodian, see Dreier, supra; Bellis, supra, a corporate custodian such as petitioner may not resist a subpoena for corporate records on Fifth Amendment grounds. Petitioner argues, however, that this rule falls in the wake of Fisher v. United States, 425 U. S. 391 (1976), and United States v. Doe, 465 U. S. 605 (1984). In essence, petitioner's argument is as follows: In response to Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616 (1886), with its privacy rationale shielding personal books and records, the Court developed the collective entity rule, which declares simply that corporate records are not private and therefore are not protected by the Fifth Amendment. The collective entity decisions were concerned with the contents of the documents subpoenaed, however, and not with the act of production. In Fisher and Doe, the Court moved away from the privacy-based collective entity rule, replacing it with a compelled-testimony standard under which the contents of business documents are never privileged but the act of producing the documents may be. Under this new regime, the act of production privilege is available without regard to the entity whose records are being sought. See In re Grand Jury Matter (Brown), 768 F. 2d 525, 528 (CA3 1985) (en banc) ("[Fisher and Doe] make the significant factor, for the privilege against self-incrimination, neither the nature of entity which owns the documents, nor the contents of documents, but rather the communicative or noncommunicative nature of the arguably incriminating disclosures sought to be compelled").
To be sure, the holding in Fisher — later reaffirmed in Doe-embarked upon a new course of Fifth Amendment analysis. See Fisher, supra, at 409. We cannot agree, however, that it rendered the collective entity rule obsolete. The agency rationale undergirding the collective entity decisions, in which custodians asserted that production of entity records would incriminate them personally, survives. From Wilson forward, the Court has consistently recognized that the cus todian of corporate or entity records holds those documents in a representative rather than a personal capacity. Artificial entities such as corporations may act only through their agents, Bellis, supra, at 90, and a custodian's assumption of his representative capacity leads to certain obligations, including the duty to produce corporate records on proper demand by the Government. Under those circumstances, the custodian's act of production is not deemed a personal act, but rather an act of the corporation. Any claim of Fifth Amendment privilege asserted by the agent would be tantamount to a claim of privilege by the corporation — which of course possesses no such privilege.
The Wilson Court declared: "[B]y virtue of their character and the rules of law applicable to them, the books and papers are held subject to examination by the demanding authority, the custodian has no privilege to refuse production although their contents tend to criminate him. In assuming their custody he has accepted the incident obligation to permit inspection." 221 U. S., at 382. "Nothing more is demanded than that the appellant should perform the obligations pertaining to his custody and should produce the books which he holds in his official capacity in accordance with the requirements of the subpoena." Id., at 386.
This theme was echoed in White:
"But individuals, when acting as representatives of a collective group, cannot be said to be exercising their personal rights and duties nor to be entitled to their purely personal privileges. Rather they assume the rights, duties and privileges of the artificial entity or association of which they are agents or officers and they are bound by its obligations. In their official capacity, therefore, they have no privilege against self-incrimination. And the official records and documents of the organization that are held by them in a representative rather than in a personal capacity cannot be the subject of the personal privilege against self-incrimination, even though production of the papers might tend to incriminate them personally." 322 U. S., at 699.
In Dreier, 221 U. S. 394 (1911), and Bellis, 417 U. S. 85 (1974), the subpoenas were addressed to the custodians and demanded that they produce the records sought. In both eases, the custodian's act of producing the documents would "tacitly admi[t] their existence and their location in the hands of their possessor," Fisher, supra, at 411-412. Nevertheless, the Court rejected the Fifth Amendment claims advanced by the custodians. Although the Court did not focus on the testimonial aspect of the act of production, we do not think such a focus would have affected the results reached. "It is well settled that no privilege can be claimed by the custodian of corporate records . . . ." Bellis, supra, at 100.
Indeed, the opinion in Fisher — upon which petitioner places primary reliance — indicates that the custodian of corporate records may not interpose a Fifth Amendment objection to the compelled production of corporate records, even though the act of production may prove personally incriminating. The Fisher Court cited the collective entity decisions with approval and offered those decisions to support the conclusion that the production of the accountant's workpapers would "not . . . involve testimonial self-incrimination." 425 U. S., at 411. The Court observed: "This Court has . . . time and again allowed subpoenas against the custodian of corporate documents or those belonging to other collective entities such as unions and partnerships and those of bankrupt businesses over claims that the documents will incriminate the custodian despite the fact that producing the documents tacitly admits their existence and their location in the hands of their possessor." Id., at 411-412. The Court later noted that "in Wilson, Dreier, White, Bellis, and In re Harris, [221 U. S. 274 (1911)], the custodian of corporate, union, or partnership books or those of a bankrupt business was ordered to respond to a subpoena for the business' books even though doing so involved a 'representation that the documents produced are those demanded by the subpoena,' Curcio v. United States, 354 U. S., at 125." Id., at 413 (citations omitted). In a footnote, the Court explained: "In these cases compliance with the subpoena is required even though the books have been kept by the person subpoenaed and his producing them would itself be sufficient authentication to permit their introduction against him." Id., at 413, n. 14. The Court thus reaffirmed the obligation of a corporate custodian to comply with a subpoena addressed to him.
That point was reiterated by Justice Brennan in his concurrence in Fisher. Id., at 429 (concurring in judgment). Although Justice Brennan disagreed with the majority as to its use of the collective entity cases to support the proposition that the act of production is not testimonial, he nonetheless acknowledged that a custodian may not resist a subpoena on the ground that the act of production would be incriminating. "Nothing in the language of [the collective entity] cases, either expressly or impliedly, indicates that the act of production with respect to the records of business entities is insufficiently testimonial for purposes of the Fifth Amendment. At most, those issues, though considered, were disposed of on the ground, not that production was insufficiently testimonial, but that one in control of the records of an artificial organization undertakes an obligation with respect to those records foreclosing any exercise of his privilege." Id., at 429-430; see also id., at 430, n. 9. Thus, whether one concludes — as did the Court — that a custodian's production of corporate records is deemed not to constitute testimonial self-incrimination, or instead that a custodian waives the right to exercise the privilege, the lesson of Fisher is clear: A custodian may not resist a subpoena for corporate records on Fifth Amendment grounds.
Petitioner also attempts to extract support for his contention from Curcio v. United States, 354 U. S. 118 (1957). But rather than bolstering petitioner's argument, we think Curcio substantiates the Government's position. Curcio had been served with two subpoenas addressed to him in his capacity as secretary-treasurer of a local union, which was under investigation. One subpoena required that he produce union books, the other that he testify. Curcio appeared before the grand jury, stated that the books were not in his possession, and refused to answer any questions as to their whereabouts. Curcio was held in contempt for refusing to answer the questions propounded. We reversed the contempt citation, rejecting the Government's argument "that the representative duty which required the production of union records in the White case requires the giving of oral testimony by the custodian." Id., at 123.
Petitioner asserts that our Curcio decision stands for the proposition that although the contents of a collective entity's records are unprivileged, a representative of a collective entity cannot be required to provide testimony about those records. It follows, according to petitioner, that because Fisher recognizes that the act of production is potentially testimonial, such an act may not be compelled if it would tend to incriminate the representative personally. We find this reading of Curdo flawed.
The Curdo Court made clear that with respect to a custodian of a collective entity's records, the line drawn was between oral testimony and other forms of incrimination. "A custodian, by assuming the duties of his office, undertakes the obligation to produce the books of which he is custodian in response to a rightful exercise of the State's visitorial powers. But he cannot lawfully be compelled, in the absence of a grant of adequate immunity from prosecution, to condemn himself by his own oral testimony." 354 U. S., at 123-124 (emphasis added).
In distinguishing those cases in which a corporate officer was required to produce corporate records and merely identify them by oral testimony, the Court showed that it understood the testimonial nature of the act of production: "The custodian's act of producing books or records in response to a subpoena duces tecum is itself a representation that the documents produced are those demanded by the subpoena. Requiring the custodian to identify or authenticate the documents for admission in evidence merely makes explicit what is implicit in the production itself." Id., at 125. In the face of this recognition, the Court nonetheless noted: "In this case petitioner might have been proceeded against for his failure to produce the records demanded by the subpoena duces tecum" Id., at 127, n. 7. As Justice Brennan later observed in his concurrence in Fisher: "The Court in Curdo, however, apparently did not note any self-incrimination problem [with the testimonial significance of the act of production] because of the undertaking by the custodian with respect to the documents." 425 U. S., at 430, n. 9.
We note further that recognizing a Fifth Amendment privilege on behalf of the records custodians of collective entities would have a detrimental impact on the Government's efforts to prosecute "white-collar crime," one of the most serious problems confronting law enforcement authorities. "The greater portion of evidence of wrongdoing by an organization or its representatives is usually found in the official records and documents of that organization. Were the cloak of the privilege to be thrown around these impersonal records and documents, effective enforcement of many federal and state laws would be impossible." White, 322 U. S., at 700. If custodians could assert a privilege, authorities would be stymied not only in their enforcement efforts against those individuals but also in their prosecutions of organizations. In Beilis, the Court observed: "In view of the inescapable fact that an artificial entity can only act to produce its records through its individual officers or agents, recognition of the individual's claim of privilege with respect to the financial records of the organization would substantially undermine the unchallenged rule that the organization itself is not entitled to claim any Fifth Amendment privilege, and largely frustrate legitimate governmental regulation of such organizations." 417 U. S., at 90.
Petitioner suggests, however, that these concerns can be minimized by the simple expedient of either granting the custodian statutory immunity as to the act of production, 18 U. S. C. §6002, 6003, or addressing the subpoena to the corporation and allowing it to chose an agent to produce the records who can do so without incriminating himself. We think neither proposal satisfactorily addresses these concerns. Taking the last first, it is no doubt true that if a subpoena is addressed to a corporation, the corporation "must find some means by which to comply because no Fifth Amendment defense is available to it." In re Sealed Case, 266 U. S. App. D. C. 30, 44, n. 9, 832 F. 2d 1268, 1282, n. 9 (1987). The means most commonly used to comply is the appointment of an alternate custodian. See, e. g., In re Two Grand Jury Subpoenae Duces Tecum, 769 F. 2d 52, 57 (CA2 1985); United States v. Lang, 792 F. 2d 1235, 1240-1241 (CA4), cert. denied, 479 U. S. 985 (1986); In re Grand Jury No. 86-3 (Will Roberts Corp.), 816 F. 2d 569, 573 (CA11 1987). But petitioner insists he cannot be required to aid the appointed custodian in his search for the demanded records, for any statement to the surrogate would itself be testimonial and incriminating. If this is correct, then petitioner's "solution" is a chimera. In situations such as this — where the corporate custodian is likely the only person with knowledge about the demanded documents — the appointment of a surrogate will simply not ensure that the documents sought will ever reach the grand jury room; the appointed custodian will essentially be sent on an unguided search.
This problem is eliminated if the Government grants the subpoenaed custodian statutory immunity for the testimonial aspects of his act of production. But that "solution" also entails a significant drawback. All of the evidence obtained under a grant of immunity to the custodian may of course be used freely against the corporation, but if the Government has any thought of prosecuting the custodian, a grant of act of production immunity can have serious consequences. Testimony obtained pursuant to a grant of statutory use immunity may be used neither directly nor derivatively. 18 U. S. C. § 6002; Kastigar v. United States, 406 U. S. 441 (1972). And "[o]ne raising a claim under [the federal immunity] statute need only show that he testified under a grant of immunity in order to shift to the government the heavy burden of proving that all of the evidence it proposes to use was derived from legitimate independent sources." Id., at 461-462. Even in cases where the Government does not employ the immunized testimony for any purpose — direct or derivative — against the witness, the Government's inability to meet the "heavy burden" it bears may result in the preclusion of crucial evidence that was obtained legitimately.
Although a corporate custodian is not entitled to resist a subpoena on the ground that his act of production will be personally incriminating, we do think certain consequences flow from the fact that the custodian's act of production is one in his representative rather than personal capacity. Because the custodian acts as a representative, the act is deemed one of the corporation and not the individual. Therefore, the Government concedes, as it must, that it may make no evi-dentiary use of the "individual act" against the individual. For example, in a criminal prosecution against the custodian, the Government may not introduce into evidence before the jury the fact that the subpoena was served upon and the corporation's documents were delivered by one particular individual, the custodian. The Government has the right, however, to use the corporation's act of production against the custodian. The Government may offer testimony — for example, from the process server who delivered the subpoena and from the individual who received the records — establishing that the corporation produced the records subpoenaed. The jury may draw from the corporation's act of production the conclusion that the records in question are authentic corporate records, which the corporation possessed, and which it produced in response to the subpoena. And if the defendant held a prominent position within the corporation that produced the records, the jury may, just as it would had someone else produced the documents, reasonably infer that he had possession of the documents or knowledge of their contents. Because the jury is not told that the defendant produced the records, any nexus between the defendant and the documents results solely from the corporation's act of production and other evidence in the case.
Consistent with our precedent, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that petitioner could not resist the subpoena for corporate documents on the ground that the act of production might tend to incriminate him. The judgment is therefore
Affirmed.
The subpoena requested the following: receipts and disbursement journals; general ledger and subsidiaries; accounts receivable/aecounts payable ledgers, cards, and all customer data; bank records of savings and checking accounts, including statements, checks, and deposit tickets; contracts, invoices — sales and purchase — conveyances, and correspondence; minutes and stock books and ledgers; loan disclosure statements and agreements; liability ledgers; and retained copies of Forms 1120, W-2, W-4, 1099, 940 and 941.
Compare In re Grand Jury Proceedings (Morganstern), 771 F. 2d 143 (CA6) (en banc), cert. denied, 474 U. S. 1033 (1985); In re Grand Jury Subpoena (85-W-71-5), 784 F. 2d 857 (CA8 1986), cert. dism'd sub nom. See v. United States, 479 U. S. 1048 (1987); United States v. Malis, 737 F. 2d 1511 (CA9 1984); In re Grand Jury Proceedings (Vargas), 727 F. 2d 941 (CA10), cert. denied, 469 U. S. 819 (1984), which have refused to recognize a Fifth Amendment privilege, with United States v. Antonio J. Sancetta, M. D., P. C., 788 F. 2d 67, 74 (CA2 1986); In re Grand Jury Matter (Brown), 768 F. 2d 525 (CA3 1985) (en banc); United States v. Lang, 792 F. 2d 1235, 1240 (CA4), cert, denied, 479 U. S. 985 (1986); In re Grand Jury No. 86-3 (Will Roberts Corp.), 816 F. 2d 569, 573 (CA11 1987); In re Sealed Case, 266 U. S. App. D. C. 30, 832 F. 2d 1268 (1987), which have recognized a Fifth Amendment privilege.
After observing that the papers in question had been prepared by the taxpayer's accountants, the Court noted: "The existence and location of the papers are a foregone conclusion and the taxpayer adds little or nothing to the sum total of the Government's information by conceding that he in fact has the papers." 425 U. S., at 411. Nor would the taxpayer's production of the papers serve to authenticate or vouch for the accuracy of the accountants' work. Id., at 413.
See also Bellis v. United States, 417 U. S. 85, 88 (1974) ("[A]n individual cannot rely upon the privilege to avoid producing the records of a collective entity which are in his possession in a representative capacity, even if these records might incriminate him personally"); Essgee Co. of China v. United States, 262 U. S. 151, 158 (1923) ("[T]he cases of Hale v. Henkel, 201 U. S. 43, Wilson v. United States, 221 U. S. 361, and Wheeler v. United States, 226 U. S. 478, show clearly that an officer of a corporation in whose custody are its books and papers is given no right to object to the production of the corporate records because they may disclose his guilt. He does not hold them in his private capacity and is not, therefore, protected against their production or against a writ requiring him as agent of the corporation to produce them").
Petitioner also offers United States v. Doe, 465 U. S. 605 (1984), as support for his position, but that decision is plainly inapposite. The Doe opinion begins by explaining that the question presented for review is "whether, and to what extent, the Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination applies to the business records of a sole proprietorship." Id., at 606 (emphasis added). A sole proprietor does not hold records in a representative capacity. Thus, the absence of any discussion of the collective entity rule can in no way be thought a suggestion that the status of the holder of the records is irrelevant.
See also 354 U. S., at 124-125 ("There is no hint in [the collective entity] decisions that a custodian of corporate or association books waives his constitutional privilege as to oral testimony by assuming the duties of his office. By accepting custodianship of records he 'has voluntarily assumed a duty which overrides his claim of privilege' only with respect to the production of the records themselves. Wilson v. United States, 221 U. S. 361, 380") (emphasis in original).
The dissent's suggestion that we have extracted from Curdo a distinction between oral testimony and act of production testimony that is nowhere found in the Curdo opinion, see post, at 126, simply ignores this part of Curdo. Similarly, the dissent pays mere lipservice to the agency rationale supporting an unbroken chain of collective entity decisions. We have consistently held that for Fifth Amendment purposes a corporate custodian acts in a representative capacity when he produces corporate documents under the compulsion of a subpoena. The dissent's failure to recognize this principle and its suggestion that petitioner was not called upon to act in his capacity as an agent of the corporations cannot be squared with our previous decisions.
Doubtless, the compelled production of the records at issue in the subsequent Beilis decision would have had testimonial implications; the Court nonetheless upheld the contempt order. Bellis v. United States, 417 U. S. 85 (1974).
White-collar crime is "the most serious and all-pervasive crime problem in America today." Conyers, Corporate and White-Collar Crime: A View by the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Crime, 17 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 287, 288 (1980). Although this statement was made in 1980, there is no reason to think the problem has diminished in the meantime.
The dissent asserts that recognition of an act of production privilege on behalf of corporate custodians will not seriously undermine law enforcement efforts directed against those custodians because only the custodian's act of production need be immunized. See post, at 130. But the burden of proving an independent source that a grant of immunity places on the Government could, in our view, have just such a deleterious effect on law enforcement efforts.
We reject the suggestion that the limitation on the evidentiary use of the custodian's act of production is the equivalent of constructive use immunity barred under our decision in Doe, 465 U. S., at 616-617. Rather, the limitation is a necessary concomitant of the notion that a corporate custodian acts as an agent and not an individual when he produces corporate records in response to a subpoena addressed to him in his representative capacity.
We leave open the question whether the agency rationale supports compelling a custodian to produce corporate records when the custodian is able to establish, by showing for example that he is the sole employee and offi cer of the corporation, that the jury would inevitably conclude that he produced the records.