Federal Search Warrants: What Businesses Should Do Immediately
When federal agents arrive with a search warrant, your business should let them in, read the warrant, call legal counsel, and say nothing else. Physically resisting a lawful warrant creates a new crime, while answering questions on the spot creates evidence. Chapman, Dowling & Mallek takes emergency calls while searches are underway.
What Should You Do in the First Minutes?
The opening moments decide how much of your position survives the day. Handle them this way:
- Ask for the Warrant: Request a copy immediately, then read what it authorizes agents to search and what they may take.
- Call Counsel: Reach counsel before anything else, and ask agents to wait, though understand they are not required to.
- Identify the Lead Agent: Write down the name, agency, and contact information of the agent in charge.
- Send Staff Home: Employees have no obligation to stay, and a mostly empty office limits unplanned conversations.
- Document Everything: Have someone note which rooms were entered, which items were taken, and what was said.
Cooperating with the search and staying silent about the substance are not in conflict. You can hold the door open and still decline the interview.
Mistakes That Make a Search Worse
Ordinary reactions cause most of the lasting damage. Avoid the following:
- Deleting or Moving Files: Altering, deleting, or relocating data after a search can create separate obstruction concerns.
- Talking to Agents: Informal answers may appear in an investigative report without an opportunity for you to revise the account.
- Calling Other Targets: Comparing versions of events with coworkers or business partners may be viewed as an attempt to coordinate statements.
- Saying Nothing to Staff: A lack of internal direction can fuel speculation among employees and clients, creating unnecessary confusion.
Agents are trained to keep the conversation going while the scene is chaotic. The questions asked during that window were drafted well before anyone knocked on the door.
Can You Refuse to Let Agents In?
No, a signed warrant authorizes entry whether or not you consent. What you can do is hold the search to the terms on its face, because Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires a warrant to describe the place searched and the items seized with particularity.
Objections get raised in a later suppression motion. The notes you take about items removed beyond the warrant’s language become the raw material for that filing.
What Happens to Your Files and Devices
Agents often copy data from servers and phones, although they may seize original devices. Request copies of imaged data promptly, since early access can reduce disruption to business operations.
Who Should Speak for the Business?
Use one designated spokesperson, with counsel reviewing any response first. Multiple accounts can create damaging inconsistencies. Employees retain their own rights and may choose whether to speak with agents.
The First 24 Hours After a Search Warrant Matter Most
By the time agents knock, a magistrate judge has already found probable cause, which means the government has been building this file for a long while. Our attorneys at Chapman, Dowling & Mallek have secured 188 acquittals in federal court and take an intensive, collaborative approach to every matter.
Consultations are free and confidential. Get in touch with us at (346) 242-7626 or by reaching out online for emergency help. We serve clients nationwide.