U.S. v. Srivastava
| Decision Date | 04 August 2006 |
| Docket Number | Criminal No. RWT 05-0482. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Pradeep SRIVASTAVA, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Paula M. Junghans, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary U.S. LLP, Washington, DC, for Defendant.
Stuart A. Berman, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, MD, for Plaintiff.
On March 20, 2003, Magistrate Judge William Connelly signed three search warrants that authorized the search of Defendant Pradeep Srivastava's home and two medical offices for "financial, business, patient and other records related to" his "business . . . which may constitute evidence of violations of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1347," a statute prohibiting health care fraud. Execution of these warrants resulted in the seizure of extensive financial papers, both business and personal, some of which were referred to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") for investigation. Upon further inquiry, the IRS concluded that Dr. Srivastava had failed to properly file his personal income tax returns for tax years 1998-2000. On October 12, 2005, a grand jury returned an indictment1 charging Dr. Srivastava with income tax evasion and false statements on tax returns.2
On January 21, 2006, Dr. Srivastava filed a Motion for An Evidentiary Hearing Pursuant to Franks v. Delaware and to Suppress Evidence [Paper No. 13], alleging that the search warrant affidavit distorted and omitted material information, misleading Judge Connelly to authorize a warrant "under which sweeping and impermissible general searches of [his] home and offices were conducted." Dr. Srivastava requested that the Court conduct an evidentiary hearing pursuant to Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 155-56, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978), and suppress the evidence seized in the searches. For reasons stated on the record on March 27, 2006, this Court denied Defendant's request for a Franks hearing. The Court heard further argument and testimony on the remaining issues raised in Dr. Srivastava's Motion to Suppress on June 9, 2006. For the reasons stated below, Dr. Srivastava's Motion to Suppress will be granted.
Dr. Srivastava is a cardiologist residing in Potomac, Maryland. At all times relevant to this indictment, he conducted his medical practice through his professional corporation, Pradeep Srivastava, M.D., P.C., a Subchapter S Corporation. He filed Form 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns jointly with his wife and Form 1120-S U.S. Income Tax Returns for his subchapter S corporation for his medical practice.3 Dr. Srivastava invested a significant amount of money in the stock market, specifically in stocks and stock options. During the rapidly rising market in technology stocks of the late 1990s, Dr. Srivastava traded in stocks and stock options at a high volume and apparently earned substantial capital gains, with smaller accompanying capital losses.
The investigation that ultimately led to criminal tax charges against Dr. Srivastava initially focused on allegations that he, through his medical practice, was engaged in health care fraud. Special agents from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General ("HHS-OIG"), the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General conducted the initial stages of the health care fraud investigation of Dr. Srivastava. On March 20, 2003, Special Agent ("SA") Jason Marrero of HHS-OIG submitted a single affidavit in support of applications for three search warrants to Judge Connelly. The affidavit in support of the warrants included allegations that Dr. Srivastava billed for services not rendered to patients, billed patients for duplicate services, listed inappropriate codes on patient claims, improperly billed patients for incidental services, and/or altered medical records.
Judge Connelly approved all three warrants, two of which applied to Dr. Srivastava's medical offices in Greenbelt and Oxon Hill, and the third of which authorized a search of Dr. Srivastava's residence in Potomac. Each warrant contained identical substantive language that authorized the seizure of ten categories of records, "including but not limited to, financial, business, patient, insurance and other records related to the business of Dr. Pradeep Srivastava, to include Drs. Balnath Bhandary and Felipe Robinson, for the period January 1, 1998 to Present, which may constitute evidence of violations of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1347.4 (emphasis added) In pertinent part, the warrants specifically authorized the seizure of:
2. Financial records, including but not limited to accounting records, tax records, accounts receivable logs and ledgers, banking records, and other records reflecting income and expenditures of the business.
(emphasis added) Agents simultaneously executed these warrants on March 21, 2003.
Agents executing these warrants seized large volumes of information from Dr. Srivastava's offices and his home.5 Of particular relevance to this case and the instant motion, agents seized from Dr. Srivastava's office copies of facsimile transmission letters directing wire transfers to his bank accounts with the Bank of India. Agents also seized from Dr. Srivastava's residence a facsimile transmission from a brokerage firm that appeared to list stock transactions for 1998, as well as spreadsheets from his financial records that showed capital gains of close to $40 million for tax year 1999.
After the searches were completed, SA Marrero forwarded to the United States Attorney's Office a copy of the Bank of India faxes found at Dr. Srivastava's Greenbelt location. The U.S. Attorney's office subsequently related this information to Supervisory Special Agent ("SSA") Brad Whites of the Wheaton, Maryland office of the IRS. On April 23, 2003, SSA Whites met with IRS Special Agent ("SA") Meredith Louden, and suggested to her that these faxes, which showed monies going to India, suggested a possible "FBAR" violation.6 Acting upon this information, SA Louden contacted SA Marrero, who apprised her of the agents' discovery of the papers showing substantial wire transfers to India,7 and informed her that, on the copies of his 1999, 2000, and 2001 personal tax returns found at his residence, Dr. Srivastava had not checked the appropriate block on the Schedules B to acknowledge these foreign accounts. SA Marrero proceeded to fax SA Louden six pages of documents, which included copies of the wire transfers found by the seizing agents. SA Louden subsequently began an investigation into possible FBAR violations, which ultimately led to a formal investigation regarding possible tax fraud committed by the Defendant.
Under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution,
[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. U.S. Const. Amend. IV; United States v. Stevenson, 396 F.3d 538, 545 (4th Cir. 2005). The so-called "Warrant Clause" of the Fourth Amendment "categorically prohibits the issuance of any warrant except one particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized." Maryland v. Garrison, 480 U.S. 79, 84, 107 S.Ct. 1013, 94 L.Ed.2d 72 (1987)(internal quotations omitted)(emphasis added).
The particularity requirement circumscribes officers' ability to conduct a general search; "by limiting the authorization to search to the specific areas and things for which there is probable cause to search, the requirement ensures that the search will be carefully tailored to its justifications, and will not take on the character of the wide-ranging exploratory searches the Framers intended to prohibit." Id. at 84, 107 S.Ct. 1013. Therefore, the particularity requirement "prevents the seizure of one thing under a warrant describing another," and prevents "a general, exploratory rummaging" into a person's property by leaving nothing to the discretion of executing officers. United States v. Janus Industries, 48 F.3d 1548, 1553-54(10th Cir.1995); see also Marron v. United States, 275 U.S. 192, 196, 48 S.Ct. 74, 72 L.Ed. 231 (1927).
Subject to the exceptions discussed below, evidence seized outside the scope of a warrant must be suppressed. See Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 392-94, 34 S.Ct. 341, 58 L.Ed. 652 (1914)(overruled on other grounds). In those circumstances where officers "grossly exceed the scope of a search warrant in seizing property," a search will be invalidated in its entirety, and all evidence seized will be suppressed. United States v. Uzenski, 434 F.3d 690, 706 (4th Cir. 2006). Such "blanket suppression is warranted where the officers engage in a `fishing expedition for the discovery of incriminating evidence.'" Id.
Dr. Srivastava asserts that agents exceeded the scope of the warrant in conducting their searches and seizing certain financial documents. Noting that there must be some logical nexus between the items named in the warrant and any unnamed evidence seized during the search, see, e.g., United States v. Gentry, 642 F.2d 385, 387 (10th Cir.1981), Dr. Srivastava asserts that the documents seized that the government now seeks to use against him in its tax prosecution had no nexus to the business records listed in the warrant or to health care fraud. The government's position, taken in its opposition to Dr. Srivastava's motion and again at the evidentiary hearing before the undersigned, is that the warrant authorized agents to seize...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
U.S. v. Srivastava
...and medical offices of Dr. Pradeep Srivastava pursuant to search warrants issued by a magistrate judge. See United States v. Srivastava, 444 F.Supp.2d 385 (D.Md.2006) (the "Suppression Ruling"). The government also appeals from the court's order of March 6, 2007, declining to reconsider its......
-
U.S.A v. Srivastava
...second hearing. On August 4, 2006, the district court issued a memorandum opinion and order suppressing evidence. United States v. Srivastava, 444 F. Supp. 2d 385 (D. Md. 2006), reconsideration denied, 476 F. Supp. 2d 509 (D. Md. 2007). The United States appealed pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 373......
-
U.S. v. Srivastava
...based on its conclusion that the evidence in question had been obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Srivastava, 444 F.Supp.2d 385 (D.Md.2006). The Government has filed a Motion for Reconsideration, which Srivastava has opposed. For the reasons stated below, and fo......