Next week the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Yates v. United States, a Sarbanes-Oxley anti-shredding case.  The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted after the Enron scandal.  One of the provisions of the Act is commonly known as the “anti-shredding provision,” which criminalizes knowingly altering, destroying, mutilating, concealing, covering up, falsifying, or making a false entry in “any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration” of any federal matter. Why am I mentioning Sarbanes-Oxley on a maritime blog?  Because Yates v. United States involves the federal government’s application of the “anti-shredding provision” to a commercial fisherman who directed his crewmen to throw undersized fish back into the sea, after receiving a civil citation and being told to bring the fish to dock to be destroyed.  That’s right…throwing fish back into the sea landed one fisherman in the Sarbanes-Oxley anti-shredding net. Read more