Page:Bittner v. United States.pdf/8

4 Under governing regulations, filers with signatory authority over or a qualifying interest in fewer than 25 accounts must provide details about each account, but individuals with 25 or more accounts need only check a box and disclose the total number of accounts. 31 CFR §1010.350(g). Instead of employing that expediency, however, Mr. Bittner and his new accountant volunteered details for each and every one of his accounts—61 accounts in 2007, 51 in 2008, 53 in 2009 and 2010, and 54 in 2011. 19 F. 4th, at 738.

The question then turned to what penalty Mr. Bittner should pay. The government did not contest the accuracy of Mr. Bittner’s new filings. Nor did the government suggest that his previous errors were willful. But because the government took the view that nonwillful penalties apply to each account not accurately or timely reported, and because Mr. Bittner’s late-filed reports for 2007–2011 collectively involved 272 accounts, the government thought a fine of $2.72 million was in order. Id., at 739–740.

Like Ms. Boyd before him, Mr. Bittner challenged his penalty in court, arguing that the BSA authorizes a maximum penalty for nonwillful violations of $10,000 per report, not $10,000 per account. As he put it, an individual’s failure to file five reports in a timely manner might invite a penalty of $50,000, but it cannot support a penalty running into the millions. The district court agreed with Mr. Bittner’s reading of the law, United States v. Bittner, 469 F. Supp. 3d 709, 724–726 (ED Tex. 2020), but the Fifth Circuit upheld the government’s assessment, 19 F. 4th, at 749.

With those facts in mind, the question before us boils down to this: Does the BSA’s $10,000 penalty for nonwillful violations accrue on a per-report or a per-account basis? Mr. Bittner urges us to agree with the Ninth Circuit and hold that the law authorizes a single $10,000 fine for each untimely or inaccurate report. The government defends the