In re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated August 9, 2000

A New York corporation (corporation) (defendant) was a banking firm with offices in the United States and in a foreign country (republic). A grand jury in New York’s southern district began investigating allegations that the corporation bribed republic officials to help other United States companies gain access to the republic’s natural resources in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. To further its investigation, the grand jury issued a subpoena for the corporation’s business records. The corporation refused to produce large quantities of the records, claiming that many of the documents in the United States were protected under the republic’s executive-privilege laws and that the records located in the republic could not be produced without violating the republic’s laws. After the subpoena was issued, the corporation’s officers inquired with republic officials to see what protections republic law had for the requested documents. The republic’s officials, including legal officers, stated that any documents related to the interests of the state could not be produced or removed from the republic without permission from the republic’s government. The United States government (government) (plaintiff) put pressure on the corporation to produce the relevant documents, and the republic’s officials issued warnings to the United States and to the corporation, including threats of possible incarceration for violating republic law. Both the corporation and the republic made unsuccessful efforts to persuade the United States government to stop the investigation. The government filed a motion to compel the corporation to cooperate with the subpoena and produce the designated documents. The court determined that the documents were not protected under the state-secrets privilege and then balanced the competing interests of the United States and the republic.