DOJ Narrows Basis for Section 1001 Prosecutions

According to a May 12, 2014 article in the National Law Journal (Tony Mauro, "DOJ's Quiet Concession:  U.S. gives up a widely decried charging theory."), the Department of Justice has quietly narrowed the scope of 18 U.S.C. 1001, the statute that makes lying to an FBI or other government agent a five-year felony.  The statute -- perhaps most notably used to send Martha Stewart to jail when the government couldn't make out an insider trading case against her -- makes it a crime to "knowingly and willfully" make materially false statements in any matter under federal jurisdiction, including lying to an FBI agent.  The government now has conceded that, in order to prove that a defendant accused of a Section 1001 violation acted "willfully," it must show that she knew that her action making or providing a false statement was unlawful.

The change in government attitude was mentioned in low-profile submissions to the Supreme Court containing confessions of error.  The Supreme Court has already returned at least two cases to lower courts for further consideration in light of the concessions.

The most questionable use of the statute, in my opinion, has occurred when agents without prior notice confronted an individual about a purported crime she committed and elicited a knee-jerk exculpatory false denial (although such denials are now to my knowledge infrequently prosecuted).  Prosecutors and agents may now have to forego prosecutions where targets or witnesses lie to them (in the field or their offices) or alternatively give those targets and witnesses a warning that a false response to the government questions is unlawful., which, of course, may discourage them from talking.

(Hat Tip to Monroe Freedman and Steve Lacheen.)

(goldman)