United States v. First National City Bank

KAUFMAN, Circuit Judge:

The issue presented on this appeal is of considerable importance to American banks with branches or offices in foreign jurisdictions. We are called upon to decide whether a domestic bank may refuse to comply with a valid Grand Jury subpoena duces tecum requiring the production of documents in the possession of a foreign branch of the bank on the ground that compliance would subject it to civil liability under the law of the foreign state.

The district judge’s factual recitation, carefully set forth upon the conclusion of the hearing on contempt, makes it unnecessary for…