Treasury Enforcement Agent Exam Case Studies & Practical Application 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A TEA agent arrests a suspect and discovers an unlocked smartphone on the arrestee. Regarding the phone's contents, the agent should:
- Search the phone immediately as it is incident to a lawful arrest
- Secure the phone and obtain a separate search warrant before accessing its contents (Correct answer)
- Hand the phone to the suspect's family for safekeeping
- Delete potentially incriminating content to prevent evidence tampering claims
Correct answer: Secure the phone and obtain a separate search warrant before accessing its contents
Per Riley v. California (2014), cell phones cannot be searched incident to arrest without a warrant; agents must secure the device and obtain judicial authorization.
Question 2: During a joint operation with local police, a local officer exceeds the scope of the federal search warrant. Evidence discovered by the local officer would most likely be:
- Fully admissible because a warrant existed
- Subject to suppression under the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule (Correct answer)
- Admissible because local law allows broader searches
- Automatically shared with federal prosecutors
Correct answer: Subject to suppression under the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule
Evidence obtained outside the scope of a federal warrant is subject to suppression regardless of which officer seized it during a joint federal operation.
Question 3: An agent's affidavit for a search warrant contains information from a confidential informant. To satisfy probable cause, the affidavit must establish:
- The informant's name and address
- The informant's reliability and the basis of their knowledge (Correct answer)
- That the informant has never been wrong before
- That the agent personally witnessed the illegal activity
Correct answer: The informant's reliability and the basis of their knowledge
Under the Aguilar-Spinelli framework (as refined by Illinois v. Gates totality of circumstances test), the affidavit must establish the informant's veracity and basis of knowledge.
Question 4: A grand jury subpoena has been issued for a company's financial records. The company's lawyer argues the records are protected by attorney-client privilege. The records sought are most likely NOT privileged if they are:
- Business records created before the attorney was hired (Correct answer)
- Communications between the attorney and client about legal strategy
- Documents reflecting the attorney's legal advice
- Notes from attorney-client meetings
Correct answer: Business records created before the attorney was hired
Attorney-client privilege protects confidential legal communications but does not protect pre-existing business records merely because they are in an attorney's possession.
Question 5: An agent develops a case against a tax preparer who helped 50 clients fraudulently inflate deductions. Charging the preparer under which theory best addresses the full scope of the conduct?
- One count of tax fraud
- Conspiracy and aiding and abetting for each client's fraudulent return (Correct answer)
- A single civil penalty
- Wire fraud limited to electronically filed returns only
Correct answer: Conspiracy and aiding and abetting for each client's fraudulent return
Conspiracy and aiding and abetting charges allow prosecution for each fraudulent return filed on behalf of each client, reflecting the full scope of the scheme.
Question 6: An agent is writing a criminal referral report after a two-year investigation. The report should be organized to PRIMARILY:
- Reflect the chronological order in which evidence was gathered
- Present the elements of the crime and how each is established by the evidence (Correct answer)
- Describe the agent's personal impressions of the suspect
- List all investigative steps taken regardless of relevance
Correct answer: Present the elements of the crime and how each is established by the evidence
Criminal referral reports must be organized around the legal elements of the charged offense, demonstrating how evidence satisfies each element for prosecutorial review.
Question 7: A TEA agent receives information from a cooperating witness who is currently facing unrelated criminal charges. When using this witness's testimony, the agent must disclose:
- Nothing, as the unrelated charges are irrelevant
- The witness's pending charges and any agreements made in exchange for cooperation (Correct answer)
- Only information that supports the government's theory
- The witness's prior testimony in other cases only
Correct answer: The witness's pending charges and any agreements made in exchange for cooperation
Brady and Giglio obligations require prosecutors and agents to disclose any benefit provided to a cooperating witness and any impeachment information that could affect the witness's credibility.
Treasury Enforcement Agent Exam Case Studies & Practical Application 4
A TEA agent arrests a suspect and discovers an unlocked smartphone on the arrestee.
Regarding the phone's contents, the agent should: