From: To: Cc: Subject: 18 U.S.C. 1519 Elements Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2019 01:56:58 +0000 -- Regarding your question on the 1519, here's our research and an overview of the charge: Under 18 U.S.C. § 1519, in pertinent part, "[w]hoever knowingly . . . falsifies, or makes a false entry in . . . any record [or] document . . . with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the ... proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States ... or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter" commits a twenty-year felony. Congress enacted § 1519 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act following the prosecution of the accounting firm Arthur Andersen for its destruction of Enron-related documents. The statute "was intended to prohibit, in particular, corporate document-shredding to hide evidence of financial wrongdoing." Yates v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 1074, 1081 (2015). Nonetheless, the legislative history of the statute reflects the fact that Congress "meant [the act] to apply broadly" and cover a wide range of "obstructive conduct." S. Rep. 107-146, 14-15 (2002). In Yates, which concerned whether a fish was a "tangible object" as used in the statute, the Supreme Court rejected "reading § 1519 expansively to create a coverall spoliation of evidence statute" and instead held that "a 'tangible object' within § 1519's compass is one used to record or preserve information." W. at 188-89. Ultimately, the restrictive reading of "tangible object" in Yates does not affect the application of the statute here because the proposed charge concerns the fabrication of a record or document, not a tangible object. Thus, to prove a defendant violated § 1519, as is relevant here, the government must establish that (1) the defendant knowingly falsified a record or document; (2) the defendant acted with intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the administration of a matter, or in contemplation of a matter; and (3) the m