18 U.S.C. § 1510 - Obstruction of criminal investigations

• Cite as: 18 U.S.C. § 1510

(a) Whoever willfully endeavors by means of bribery to obstruct, delay, or prevent the communication of information relating to a violation of any criminal statute of the United States by any person to a criminal investigator shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b)

(1) Whoever, being an officer of a financial institution, with the intent to obstruct a judicial proceeding, directly or indirectly notifies any other person about the existence or contents of a subpoena for records of that financial institution, or information that has been furnished in response to that subpoena, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

(2) Whoever, being an officer of a financial institution, directly or indirectly notifies-

(A) a customer of that financial institution whose records are sought by a subpoena for records; or

(B) any other person named in that subpoena;

about the existence or contents of that subpoena or information that has been furnished in response to that subpoena, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

(3) As used in this subsection-

(A) the term "an officer of a financial institution" means an officer, director, partner, employee, agent, or attorney of or for a financial institution; and

(B) the term "subpoena for records" means a Federal grand jury subpoena, a subpoena issued under section 3486 of this title, or an order or subpoena issued in accordance with section 3512 of this title, section 5318 of title 31, or section 1782 of title 28, for customer records that has been served relating to a violation of, or a conspiracy to violate-

(i) section 215, 656, 657, 1005, 1006, 1007, 1014, 1344, 1956, 1957, 1960, an offense against a foreign nation constituting specified unlawful activity under section 1956, a foreign offense for which enforcement of a foreign forfeiture judgment could be brought under section 2467 of title 28, or chapter 53 of title 31; or

(ii) section 1341 or 1343 affecting a financial institution.

(c) As used in this section, the term "criminal investigator" means any individual duly authorized by a department, agency, or armed force of the United States to conduct or engage in investigations of or prosecutions for violations of the criminal laws of the United States.

(d)

(1) Whoever-

(A) acting as, or being, an officer, director, agent or employee of a person engaged in the business of insurance whose activities affect interstate commerce, or