929

Obstruction of Federal Audit

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (Pub.L.No. 100-690, § 7078, 102 Stat. 4181) created an obstruction of Federal audit offense, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1516. The statute provides: Whoever, with intent to deceive or defraud the United States, endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede a Federal auditor in the performance of official duties relating to a person receiving in excess of $100,000, directly or indirectly, from the United States in any 1 year period under a contract or subcontract . . . For purposes of this statute -- the term "Federal auditor" means any person employed on a full- or part-time or contractual basis to perform an audit or a quality assurance inspection for or on behalf of the United States; the term "in any 1 year period" has the meaning given to the term "in any one-year period" in section 666 [of Title 18, United States Code] (parenthetical added). The legislative history suggests that Section 1516 will be applied in a manner similar to the application of other obstruction of justice statutes. See Project, Tenth Annual Survey of White Collar Crime, 32 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 137, 525-548 (1995)(discussing 18 U.S.C. §§  1503, 1512). [cited in USAM 9-42.001]