UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. Case No. 1:17-cr-00238 (TNM) TAI TAN NGUYEN, Defendant. MEMORANDUM ORDER Tai Nguyen is charged with bulk cash smuggling, failure to file a currency report, and knowingly making false statements to government investigators. Ahead of his trial, Mr. Nguyen moved to suppress the statements he made to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents during two interviews conducted in October 2016. Because these interviews were not custodial interrogations, and because his statements were made voluntarily, the Court denies the Defendant’s motion. I. The Government contends that Mr. Nguyen misused his position as an ICE Assistant Attaché to conceal, transport, and avoid reporting over $80,000 in cash in 2016. Def.’s Mot. to Suppress 2, ECF No. 7. Stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok at the time, Mr. Nguyen allegedly transported the money from Hawaii to Thailand and claimed diplomatic immunity to evade certain Bank Secrecy Act reporting requirements. Id.; Pl.’s Opp. to Def.’s Mot. to Suppress 2, ECF No. 8. Mr. Nguyen is also accused of knowingly making false statements to government agents in the subsequent investigation of the incident. See Indictment 2, ECF No. 1. Special Agents Kendra Wynn and Michael Keck and Unit Chief Craig Larrabee worked in ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility (“OPR”) in 2016. They interviewed Mr. Nguyen twice. Def.’s Mot. to Suppress 2. The first interview was conducted on October 27, 2016, at two locations in the District of Columbia – ICE headquarters and OPR’s building in L’Enfant Plaza. Id. Mr. Nguyen requested the second interview. It was held the next day at the OPR building. Pl.’s Opp. to Def.’s Mot. to Suppress 2. Before each interview began, the ICE agents provided Mr. Nguyen several warnings and notices, including “a Beckwith Warning, Disclosure Warning, General Notice, and a Title 18 United States Code § 1001 Advisement.” Def.’s Mot. to Suppress 2. Mr. Nguyen signed and dated each of the warnings and notices he received. Id. at 3. Mr. Nguyen argues that these warnings were insufficient, as the interviews were “custodial in nature” and he was “interrogated.” Id. (citing Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)). Therefore, because the ICE agents failed “to advise Mr. Nguyen of the full panoply of his Miranda rights – especially his right to have counsel present during the interviews – [they] denied him his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.” Id. at 3-4. Mr. Nguyen also claims that the ICE agents “intimated” him “by using his position as an [ICE] ‘employee’ against him to coerce him into signing the waiver forms.” Id. at 4. Because of this coercion, “his alleged waiver of his constitutional protections . . . was neither voluntary nor made with a full awareness” of the nature and scope of these protections. Id. Accordingly, the Defendant believes that his statements during the interviews “must be excluded from the government’s case-in-chief at trial.” Id. The Government disagrees, arguing that Miranda does not apply here, as Mr. ...
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