Appellant, Joseph Azar, appealed the district court’s denial of his motion to quash a subpoena obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice at the request of the Minister of Legal Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago. The United States had sought the subpoena to obtain Azar’s Florida bank records as part of a criminal investigation in Trinidad and Tobago. On review, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (per Fay, J.) affirmed the district court’s decision and held that 28 U.S.C. §1782 authorized the judicial assistance sought by the Minister of Legal Affairs even though there was no pending proceeding in Trinidad and Tobago.
