Yates v. United States

Yates (defendant), a commercial fisherman, caught undersized red grouper and had a crew member throw them overboard to prevent federal authorities from confirming the violation. He was charged under a Sarbanes-Oxley provision, 18 U.S.C. section 1519, criminalizing destruction or concealment of any 'record, document, or tangible object' to obstruct a federal investigation. He argued the provision — enacted to target corporate evidence destruction like document shredding — did not reach fish; the government argued fish were a 'tangible object.' He was convicted, and the court of appeals affirmed.

Whether the term 'tangible object' in section 1519 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act refers to an object used to record or preserve information, such that it does not include fish.