In Re Grand Jury Investigation. United States of America v. The Corporation 1

The government appeals the denial of its motion for in camera review of allegedly privileged documents subpoenaed in a grand jury' investigation. The district court had jurisdiction over the grand jury investigation pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1826 (1988). A timely notice of appeal was filed, and this court has jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3731 (1988) and 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1988). We affirm the judgment of the district court.

BACKGROUND

This appeal stems from a grand jury investigation of an alleged criminal scheme by the Corporation to defraud Medicare. The investigation focuses on the Corporation’s implementation of a ferritin program in which the Corporation billed Medicare $17.00 for a ferritin serum test while billing others only $0.65 or nothing for the same test.

During the grand jury investigation, the government subpoenaed over 250,000 documents from the Corporation. However, the Corporation refused to produce eleven documents and claimed that the documents were protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Corporation provided the government with a privilege log that briefly described the documents and their subject matter.

The government then brought a motion…