Reading Room Document

Whether Section 319(b) of the Patriot Act Includes Authority for the Issuance of Grand Jury Subpoenas to Foreign Banks That Maintain Correspondent Accounts in the United States

This opinion concludes that section 319(b) of the Patriot Act does not allow a grand jury to subpoena foreign banks that maintain a correspondent account in the United States, since the Patriot Act authorizes the issuance of subpoenas only by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, not by a federal grand jury. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://justice.gov/olc/docs/memo-section319-patriotact.pdf.

April 6, 2002