Bright

BACKGROUND

Cherie Bright is a co-owner of Bright Enterprises, a tax consulting business. In 2007, the Department of Justice filed a civil fraud action against Bright Enterprises and its owners, accusing them of promoting tax shelters. Before bringing that action, the IRS investigated Cherie and her business partner’s personal returns, seeking information concerning the same shelters that would appear in the fraud complaint. Specific to this appeal, on June 19, 2006, the IRS issued and served iden- tical summonses to Cherie and her husband, Benjamin Bright, directing them to appear before an IRS Revenue Agent to UNITED STATES v. BRIGHT 3139 address suspected past tax liability. The summonses also directed the Brights to bring numerous categories of docu- ments — including records relating to two credit cards identi- fied with the Brights that were linked to offshore accounts and “any other offshore credit cards.” The Brights failed to appear or to produce any documents.

The government then filed an enforcement petition in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, which ordered the Brights to show cause why they should not be compelled to comply…