Emmet G. Sullivan, United States District Judge.
Defendant Eghbal Saffarinia ("Mr. Saffarinia"), a former Assistant Inspector General for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General ("HUD-OIG"), faces criminal charges arising from alleged falsifications and omissions in his annual public financial disclosure reports pursuant to the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. App. 4 §§ 101-11. Mr. Saffarinia has been charged in a seven-count indictment for engaging in a scheme to conceal material facts, making false statements, and falsifying records. Following the government's production of approximately 3.5 million pages with detailed production logs, Mr. Saffarinia moves for a bill of particulars. Upon careful consideration of the motion, the response, the reply thereto, the applicable law, and for the reasons explained below, the Court
The following allegations, which Mr. Saffarinia accepts as true for this motion and intends to disprove at trial, are drawn from the indictment. See Def.'s Mem. of Law in Supp. of Def.'s Mot. for Bill of Particulars ("Def.'s Mem."), ECF No. 14-1 at 3 n.1.
Mr. Saffarinia also served as HUD-OIG's Head of Contracting Activity, overseeing "procurement review and approval processes, including IT contracts[.]" Id. at 2 ¶ 5. He was given "access to contractor proposal information and source selection information[.]" Id. In that position, Mr. Saffarinia had a "legal duty under governing regulations," requiring him to take the following actions:
Id. at 2-3 ¶ 5.
Mr. Saffarinia, however, did not disclose the nature of his relationship with Person A. Id. at 3-4 ¶ 11-12. Neither did Mr. Saffarinia disclose his loans and payments in excess of $10,000 from Person A and his neighbor. Id. 17 ¶ 75. Mr. Saffarinia, Person A, and Person B were friends from college who emigrated to the United States from the same country. Id. at 3 ¶ 9. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Saffarinia concealed his financial relationship with Person A, who was the owner of an IT company that contracted with HUD-OIG ("Company A"). See id. at 3 ¶ 6; 3-4 ¶¶ 11-12. Mr. Saffarinia "steer[ed] government business and disclos[ed] confidential government information" to Person A and Company A. Id. at 4 ¶ 12. Mr. Saffarinia omitted an $80,000 promissory note that he owed to Person A in his OGE Forms 278, failing to report all liabilities in excess of $10,000 in those forms. See id. at 2 ¶ 4; 4 ¶ 12.
In 2012, Mr. Saffarinia caused Company B to enter into a business partnership with Person A and Company A, and Company A eventually served as one of Company B's subcontractors on a multi-year, $30 million IT services contract for HUD-OIG. Id. at 6 ¶ 18. HUD-OIG approved additional funding in the amount of $78,000 for Company A's subcontract with Company B in 2013. Id. at 10 ¶ 42. Between 2012 to 2015, Company A received more than one million dollars as Company B's subcontractor. Id. at 9 ¶ 36. Mr. Saffarinia gave competitive advantages to Person A and Company A for a certain government contract between 2013 and 2014. Id. at 14 ¶ 61.
Mr. Saffarinia hired his friend and former business partner, Person B, as the head of HUD-OIG's new predictive analytics department. Id. at 3 ¶¶ 7, 9. At Mr. Saffarinia's direction, Person B became the sole member of a technical evaluation panel for a government contract. Id. at 16 ¶ 72. For that contract, Person B rejected thirteen bid proposals, and HUD-OIG awarded it to Person A and Company A. Id.
From 2013 to 2014, Mr. Saffarinia caused HUD-OIG to recompete Company B's IT service contract, and he caused Company C to enter into a business partnership with Company A in order for both companies to submit a joint bid for the recompete contract. Id. at 11 ¶ 47. Mr. Saffarinia directed his subordinate to meet with Person A and the owner of Company C for the formation of the partnership and the submission of the joint bid. Id. at 12 ¶ 50. HUD-OIG awarded the recompete
On June 25, 2019, a federal grand jury returned a 19-page, 78-paragraph, seven-count indictment charging Mr. Saffarinia with concealing material facts, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001(a)(1) and 2 ("Count I"); making false statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001(a)(2) and 2 ("Counts II-IV"); and falsifying records, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1519 and 2 ("Counts V-VII"). Id. 3-18 ¶¶ 10-78. Count I asserts that Mr. Saffarinia "did knowingly and willfully falsify, conceal, and cover up by trick, scheme, and device material facts... by violating his legal duty to disclose a financial relationship with Person A, including on his annual OGE Forms 278." Id. at 4 ¶ 11. Listing Mr. Saffarinia's 2014, 2015, and 2016 publicly-filed OGE Forms 278, Counts II through IV assert that Mr. Saffarinia "did willfully and knowingly make and caused to be made material false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the Government of the United States, namely, HUD and OGE[.]" Id. at 17 ¶ 76. Finally, Counts V through VII list the same three separate OGE forms, alleging that Mr. Saffarinia "knowingly concealed, covered up, falsified, and made false entries in a record, document, and tangible object" when he caused those forms to be filed "with HUD and OGE." Id. at 18 ¶ 78.
On June 28, 2019, this Court issued a Standing Order requiring the government to produce any evidence in its possession that is favorable to Mr. Saffarinia and material to either his guilt or punishment. See generally Standing Order, ECF No. 11 at 1 (citing Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 153-55, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972)). On the same day, the Court granted the parties' consent motion for a Protective Order governing discovery. See Min. Order of June 28, 2019. As early as June 2019, the government produced more than one million records to Mr. Saffarinia's counsel. Gov't Opp'n, ECF No. 15 at 2. That production included, among other things, virtually all of the investigative case file from the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), interview reports, agent notes, and witnesses' statements pursuant to the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500. Id. at 2-3. The government's production, while voluminous, was sent to defense counsel in an "organized and navigable digital format (specifically, in an electronic, `load ready' format), with bates-stamping and detailed discovery production logs that include[d] all of the metadata for the records." Id. at 3. The government gave Mr. Saffarinia an "explicit roadmap" during two reverse proffer sessions in February 2018 and June 2019,
Dissatisfied, Mr. Saffarinia filed a motion for bill of particulars on July 5, 2019. See Def.'s Mot. for Bill of Particulars ("Def.'s Mot."), ECF No. 14 at 1. Mr. Saffarinia seeks an order compelling the
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 7(c) requires an indictment to "be a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged[.]" Fed. R. Crim. P. 7(c)(1); see also United States v. Edmond, 924 F.2d 261, 269 (D.C. Cir. 1991) ("[T]he function of a federal indictment is ... not how the government plans to go about proving [those essential facts]."). Under Rule 7(f), a "court may direct the government to file a bill of particulars." Fed. R. Crim. P. 7(f). "A bill of particulars can be used to ensure that the charges brought against a defendant are stated with enough precision to allow the defendant to understand the charges, to prepare a defense, and perhaps also to be protected against retrial on the same charges." United States v. Butler, 822 F.2d 1191, 1193 (D.C. Cir. 1987). "Yet if the indictment is sufficiently specific, or if the requested information is available in some other form, then a bill of particulars is not required." Id.
"The determination of whether a bill of particulars is necessary `rests within the sound discretion of the trial court' and will not be disturbed absent an abuse of that discretion." United States v. Mejia, 448 F.3d 436, 445 (D.C. Cir. 2006) (quoting Butler, 822 F.2d at 1194). "[A] bill of particulars is not a discovery tool or a device for allowing the defense to preview the government's evidence." United States v. Brodie, 326 F.Supp.2d 83, 91 (D.D.C. 2004); see also United States v. Smith, 776 F.2d 1104, 1111 (3d Cir. 1985) ("A bill of particulars, unlike discovery, is not intended to provide the defendant with the fruits of the government's investigation.").
In moving for a bill of particulars, Mr. Saffarinia makes four primary arguments. First, Mr. Saffarinia contends that a bill of particulars is necessary for him to prepare his defense and to prevent unfair surprises at trial. Def.'s Mem., ECF No. 14-1 at 6. Mr. Saffarinia's next argument is that the obstruction allegations in Counts V through VII are "threadbare" and "multiplicitous" because the indictment fails to describe the "investigation" or "matter" that he allegedly intended to impede, influence, or obstruct. Id. at 7. Mr. Saffarinia points out that he is left guessing "whether the `matter' supporting the false statements charges differs from the `matter' supporting the obstruction charges." Id. at 8. Next, Mr. Saffarinia argues that Count I of the indictment fails to explain what "legal duty" triggered his alleged failure to disclose information in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(1). Id. at 9. Mr. Saffarinia's fourth argument is that the "massive discovery" in this case underscores the need for a bill of particulars because he will be "left to spend months of valuable trial preparation time sifting through millions of pages of documents trying to figure out what, exactly, he stands accused of." Id. at 11.
Before turning to the parties' arguments as to Mr. Saffarinia's three requests, the Court first addresses the substantial discovery in this case.
It is undisputed that the discovery in this case is voluminous. See, e.g., Def.'s Mem., ECF No. 14-1 at 10-11; Gov't Opp'n, ECF No. 15 at 2-3. The government has produced more than one million records and 3.5 million pages to Mr. Saffarinia. See Def.'s Mem., ECF No. 14-1 at 10; see also Gov't Opp'n, ECF No. 15 at 2. In the government's view, Mr. Saffarinia "will [not] be forced to find a proverbial needle in a haystack" because the government has provided him with organized and detailed discovery production logs, Bates-stamping, and digital formatting. Gov't Opp'n, ECF No. 15 at 2. The government further provided Mr. Saffarinia with seven specific categories of documents to assist defense counsel with the discovery review. Id. at 2-3.
Notwithstanding the pre-indictment negotiations, voluminous discovery, and subsequent discussions between the parties in this case, the parties had two separate and lengthy reverse proffer sessions, Mr. Saffarinia
Gov't Opp'n, ECF No. 15 at 3. According to the government, "[t]he elements of the crimes that the government anticipated charging, and the accompanying jurisdictional and legal issues, were matters of prolonged oral and written communications between the parties." Id. at 3 n.2. Although Mr. Saffarinia takes issue with the government's statements about the parties' discussions, he argues that the parties' disagreement is "irrelevant." Def.'s Reply, ECF No. 16 at 8. Without citing to any authority, Mr. Saffarinia contends that "if the government did communicate the particulars that Mr. Saffarinia seeks, it will suffer no prejudice from repeating its prior disclosures here." Id. at 9 (emphasis in original).
Contrary to Mr. Saffarinia's contention, the government does not have an obligation to repeat its previous disclosures. "A bill of particulars is meant to allow [Mr. Saffarinia] to properly prepare for trial, not provide a method to force the prosecution to connect every dot in its case." United States v. Han, 280 F.Supp.3d 144, 149 (D.D.C. 2017) (citing Butler, 822 F.2d at 1193-94). While Mr. Saffarinia may request additional information through a bill of particulars, see Fed. R. Crim. P. 7(f), he may not use it as a discovery mechanism, see United States v. Ramirez, 54 F.Supp.2d 25, 29 (D.D.C. 1999). As Judge Huvelle observed in United States v. Brodie, "a bill of particulars is not a discovery tool or a device" and the government is not "required to prove how or when the [alleged crime] was formed, the details of any meeting or when the defendant [engaged in the alleged crime]." 326 F. Supp. 2d at 91. Furthermore, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ("D.C. Circuit") has made clear that a bill of particulars is unwarranted where, as here, "the requested information is available in some other form." Butler, 822 F.2d at 1193; see also United States v. Sanford Ltd., 841 F.Supp.2d 309, 316 (D.D.C. 2012) (finding that "no bill of particulars [was] warranted [there] because the superseding indictment and other information available to the defendants through discovery provide[d] sufficient detail regarding the nature and the details of the offenses charged to afford the defendants a full and fair opportunity to prepare for and avoid surprise at trial").
In this case, Mr. Saffarinia's request for additional details about the charges in the indictment—details of which the government has already provided to him—is improper. An "indictment's failure to detail the government's case against the defendants alone does not trigger a requirement for the government to produce a bill of particulars so long as the information requested by the defendants has been made available in another form[.]" United
Mr. Saffarinia's argument—that the government fails to identify the investigation or matter underlying the three obstruction counts—is unavailing. See Def.'s Mem., ECF No. 14-1 at 7. With respect to Counts V through VII, "[t]he plain language of 18 U.S.C. § 1519 criminalizes a defendant's efforts to obstruct `the investigation or proper administration of any matter' within the jurisdiction of [any department or agency of the United States, including] the FBI, `or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter.'" United States v. Moyer, 674 F.3d 192, 206 (3d Cir. 2012) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 1519). "By the plain terms of § 1519, knowledge of a pending federal investigation or proceeding is not an element of the obstruction crime." United States v. Gray, 642 F.3d 371, 378 (2d Cir. 2011) (emphasis added). And "[Section] 1519 does not require the existence or likelihood of a federal investigation." Id. at 379.
To support its position, the government relies on United States v. Knight, No. 12-cr-0367, 2013 WL 3367259, at *4 (E.D. Pa. July 3, 2013). See Gov't Opp'n, ECF No. 15 at 6. Knight, a decision left unaddressed by Mr. Saffarinia, is persuasive. See Def.'s Reply, ECF No. 16 at 6-7. In that case, the defendants sought additional information about their alleged obstructive conduct under § 1519 beyond the allegations in the indictment. Knight, 2013 WL 3367259, at *4 (emphasis added). The court found that the indictment tracked the language of § 1519. Id. at *5. The court explained that "the Government need not provide specifics on how the obstructive conduct was intended to impede the grand jury or any investigation." Id. at *4. Because the indictment set forth which documents the defendants had allegedly falsified and fabricated, the court reasoned that the defendants were not entitled to "information regarding obstructive conduct beyond what [was] alleged in the Indictment[.]" Id. The court found that "[r]eading the Indictment as a whole, Defendants [could] reasonably infer how their allegedly obstructive conduct impeded the grand jury or an investigation into their activities." Id.
The same is true here. As the government correctly points out, the indictment provides Mr. Saffarinia with notice of the
Mr. Saffarinia's other argument— that the government fails to identify the legal duty and governing regulations underlying Count I—is equally unavailing. See Def.'s Mem., ECF No. 14-1 at 9-10. A violation under 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(1) predicated on concealment, as alleged in the indictment here, requires the government to prove that the defendant had a legal duty to disclose the concealed information. E.g., United States v. Safavian, 528 F.3d 957, 964 (D.C. Cir. 2008) ("Concealment cases in this circuit and others have found a duty to disclose material facts on the basis of specific requirements for disclosure of specific information."); United States v. Calhoon, 97 F.3d 518, 526 (11th Cir. 1996) ("Falsity through concealment exists where disclosure of the concealed information is required by a statute, government regulation, or form.").
Mr. Saffarinia argues that "the government must prove that [he] had a `duty to disclose material facts on the basis of specific requirements for disclosure of specific information.'" Def.'s Mem., ECF No. 14-1 at 9 (quoting Safavian, 528 F.3d at 964). The government does not dispute this
In Safavian, a jury found the defendant guilty of concealing relevant information from: (1) an ethics officer in the course of seeking an ethics opinion; and (2) the General Services Administration in the course of that agency's investigation. 528 F.3d at 962-63. Specifically, the defendant had requested advice from the ethics officer, but the defendant purportedly failed to provide all the information that would have been relevant to the officer in rendering his opinion. Id. at 964. The defendant also purportedly failed to provide complete information to the agency's investigator with whom he voluntarily met. Id.
On appeal, the D.C. Circuit reversed the defendant's convictions on the concealment counts, holding that the government had failed to identify a duty to disclose. Id. at 965. With respect to the defendant's failure to provide complete information to the ethics officer, the D.C. Circuit noted that it was not clear "how th[e] voluntary system" of seeking ethical advice — which the defendant was ultimately free to follow or disregard — "impose[d] a duty on those seeking ethical advise to disclose ... `all relevant information' upon pain of prosecution for violating § 1001(a)(1)." Id. at 964. Instead, any duty to disclose must arise from "specific requirements for disclosure of specific information" so that the defendant has "fair notice ... of what conduct is forbidden." Id. (citation omitted). The D.C. Circuit also rejected the government's argument that "once one begins speaking when seeking government action or in response to questioning, one must disclose all relevant facts." Id. at 965. Noting that there was no "regulation or form or statute" that contained such a requirement, the D.C. Circuit made clear that nothing in "[section] 1001 demands that individuals choose between saying everything and saying nothing." Id.
Mr. Saffarinia's reliance on Safavian is misplaced. The government in Safavian argued that the defendant's duty to disclose information was imposed upon him not by statute, regulation, or government form, but by "standards of conduct for government employees," which provided fourteen "general principles" of behavior. Id. at 964. The D.C. Circuit concluded that those standards were "vague" and that the "ethical principles" embodied in them did not impose a clear duty on an executive employee to disclose information. Id. at 964-65. The opposite is true here.
As the indictment makes clear, Mr. Saffarinia's duty to disclose the required information in the OGE Forms 278 is not the result of vague or general principles. See Indictment, ECF No. 1 at 4 ¶ 11. Unlike in Safavian, this case involves a statute, regulations, and a government form. The statute is the Ethics in Government Act; the regulations are the OGE's regulations, 5 C.F.R. § 2634, et seq.; and the government form is the OGE Form 278. See id.
Next, Mr. Saffarinia argues that the government fails to identify the "governing regulations" in the indictment. Def.'s Mem., ECF No. 14-1 at 10. To support his argument, Mr. Saffarinia relies on United States v. Madeoy, 652 F.Supp. 371, 374 (D.D.C. 1987), but his reliance on that case is also misplaced. In Madeoy, the defendants were charged with 121 counts, including conspiracy, racketeering, false statements, and fraud. Id. at 374. The indictment referenced "more than 700 pages of the Code of Federal Regulations without specifying which regulations [were] at issue." Id. The court held that "[t]here [was] no reason whatever why [those] laws and regulations should not [have been] specified by way of a bill of particulars—a specification which may well [have been] vital to defendants' abilities to answer [the] charges." Id. Madeoy, however, is factually distinguishable. The holding in that case does not require a bill of particulars in every case where an indictment does not provide a specific citation to a governing regulation. Unlike in the present case, there is no indication whether the government in Madeoy provided the defendants with substantial discovery or whether the parties participated in extensive reverse proffer sessions. See id. at 380 (granting defendants' motion for pretrial discovery).
It is undisputed that the government has produced voluminous discovery in this case. The indictment expressly refers to Mr. Saffarinia's positions as a high-level HUD-OIG official and the Head of Contracting Activity, as well as his SES membership, which all gave rise to his legal duty to disclose the required information in the OGE Form 278. See Indictment, ECF No. 1 at 2-3 ¶¶ 3-5. The OGE Form 278 itself provides specific information about the reporting requirements. See OGE Form 278 at 1 § I ("Scope of Disclosure"). Furthermore, the indictment tracks the language of § 1001(a), and it provides specific information about the three alleged false statements. See Indictment, ECF No. 1 at 17 ¶¶ 74-76. The Court therefore finds that the indictment provides Mr. Saffarinia with adequate notice of the charges against him. See United States v. Cisneros, 26 F.Supp.2d 24, 50 (D.D.C. 1998) (denying motion for bill of particulars where "[t]he lengthy [i]ndictment include[d] not only a recitation of the statute but specific information, including the times, places and activities which constitute the unlawful activity").
For the reasons set forth above, the Court