TITLE VIII - CORPORATE AND CRIMINAL FRAUD ACCOUNTABILITY
SEC. 802. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR ALTERING DOCUMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL. - Chapter 73 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by
adding at the end the following:
"§ 1519. Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in
Federal investigations and bankruptcy
"Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies,
or makes 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 matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United
States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation
of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not
more than 20 years, or both.
"§ 1520. Destruction of corporate audit records
"(a)(1) Any accountant who conducts an audit of an issuer
of securities to which section 10A(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(15 U.S.C. 78j–1(a)) applies, shall maintain all audit or review workpapers
for a period of 5 years from the end of the fiscal period in which the audit
or review was concluded.
"(2) The Securities and Exchange Commission shall promulgate,
within 180 days, after adequate notice and an opportunity for comment, such
rules and regulations, as are reasonably necessary, relating to the retention
of relevant records such as workpapers, documents that form the basis of an
audit or review, memoranda, correspondence, communications, other documents,
and records (including electronic records) which are created, sent, or received
in connection with an audit or review and contain conclusions, opinions, analyses,
or financial data relating to such an audit or review, which is conducted by
any accountant who conducts an audit of an issuer of securities to which section
10A(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78j–1(a)) applies.
The Commission may, from time to time, amend or supplement the rules and regulations
that it is required to promulgate under this section, after adequate notice
and an opportunity for comment, in order to ensure that such rules and regulations
adequately comport with the purposes of this section.
"(b) Whoever knowingly and willfully violates subsection
(a)(1), or any rule or regulation promulgated by the Securities and Exchange
Commission under subsection (a)(2), shall be fined under this title, imprisoned
not more than 10 years, or both.
"(c) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to diminish
or relieve any person of any other duty or obligation imposed by Federal or
State law or regulation to maintain, or refrain from destroying, any document.".
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT. - The table of sections at the beginning of chapter
73 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following
new items:
"1519. Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal
investigations and bankruptcy.
"1520. Destruction of corporate audit records.".
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