Ninth Circuit Rules That Government Need Not Disclose Simultaneous Criminal Investigation

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an important opinion on April 4, addressing governmental conduct and defendant constitutional rights in parallel civil and criminal investigations. The court ruled that it is not a constitutional violation or an abuse of the investigative process for the government to keep secret the active, ongoing coordination of civil and criminal investigations of an individual, even when asked directly by counsel whether civil authorities are working in conjunction with criminal authorities.

In United States v. Stringer, No. 06-30100 (April 4, 2008), the court reversed the dismissal of criminal indictments against three defendants alleging falsification of the financial records of their company. The district court had ruled that the government violated defendants’ constitutional rights by using “trickery and deceit” to conceal the existence of the concurrent civil and criminal investigations, and by conducting a criminal investigation under the auspices of a civil investigation. The Ninth Circuit disagreed, holding that there was no deceit; rather, at most there was a governmental decision not to conduct the criminal investigation openly.

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