UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stephen William BISCHEL, Defendant-Appellant

This appeal requires us to decide when there has been “final action” on an official request for evidence in a foreign country, where the court has suspended the running of the statute of limitations pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3292 .

Stephen Bisehel was convicted of numerous offenses arising out of “broker’s crosses” on investments sold by La Jolla Trading Group, which he owned. Because these transactions involved British commodity brokers, the government requested assistance of United Kingdom authorities through letters rogatory and obtained a court order under § 3292(a)(1) to suspend the running of the statute of limitations pending “final action” on the request.

Records were received pursuant to the official request at a time when the statute of limitations would normally have run on many of the offenses charged in the indictment; a Certificate of Authenticity that was also requested had not yet been received when the indictment was returned. We hold that “final action on the request” for purposes of § 3292 includes all of the items requested in the letters rogatory. Since the certification had been requested but had not yet been received, the district court did not clearly err…