Opinion ID: 795375
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Sufficient Evidence Exists to Convict Defendant of Obstructing an Agency Proceeding

Text: 82 Similarly, the government presented sufficient evidence to allow a reasonable juror to conclude that Defendant's involvement in his wife's deletions of RBA's contact list directly after receiving an SEC subpoena constituted obstruction of an agency proceeding. Section 1505 of Title 18 renders obstruction of an agency proceedings illegal. It states: 83 Whoever, with intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil investigative demand duly and properly made under the Antitrust Civil Process Act, willfully withholds, misrepresents, removes from any place, conceals, covers up, destroys, mutilates, alters, or by other means falsifies any documentary material, answers to written interrogatories, or oral testimony, which is the subject of such demand; or attempts to do so or solicits another to do so . . . shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years . . . or both. 84 Thus, to be convicted of obstruction of agency proceedings, a defendant must have 1) intended to interfere with the proceedings and 2) withheld, misrepresented, removed from any place, concealed, covered up, destroyed, mutilated, altered or falsified any documentary material, answers to written interrogatories, or oral testimony. See id. Inasmuch as a reasonable jury could find that Defendant, acting with the requisite intent, misrepresented RBA's contact list to the SEC, it could find that Defendant obstructed an agency proceeding. First, Stephan-Blackwell testified that she and Defendant agreed to obscure their relationships to WF stock buyers, thereby providing a reasonable juror with evidence of Defendant's intent to interfere. Second, Stephan-Blackwell testified that Defendant was present when she deleted the RBA records and that Defendant did not object. As the government correctly points out, Defendant, knowing of the deletions, essentially misrepresented the contact list to the SEC by failing to correct them. See United States v. Laurins, 857 F.2d 529, 536 (9th Cir. 1988) (holding that the submission of false documents to IRS violated § 1505). Thus, there was sufficient evidence to allow a jury to find that Defendant's involvement in the deletions amounted to obstruction of an agency proceeding.