Full opinion text
ORDER DOUMAR, District Judge. Presently before the Court are two Motions for Summary Judgment filed pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c). Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) agents Carol Willman (“Willman”) and Cheryl Kast (“Kast”) filed a joint Motion for Summary Judgment claiming immunity from suit. In addition, the three remaining state defendants in this case, Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control (“ABC”) Board agents Clyde Santana, (“Santana”), Robert Dunford, (“Dunford”), and Dave Altman, (“Altman”), filed a joint Motion for Summary Judgment also claiming immunity from suit. For the reasons outlined below, the Motions for Summary Judgment are GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Before beginning a discussion of the issues, it is incumbent upon the Court to clarify exactly what this case is, and what it is not. This case is not a tort case. The issue of the negligence of the ABC and IRS defendants is not before the Court in the sense of a typical negligence action. Plaintiffs’ failure to comply with the requirements of the Federal Tort Claims Act has prohibited them from bringing suit against the agencies or individual defendants based solely on their negligence. This case concerns whether Defendants violated the Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights in procuring search warrants for Plaintiffs’ homes and business. Insofar as Plaintiffs’ constitutional claims are concerned, Defendants can claim immunity from suit for acts committed during the course of official duties if a reasonable investigating officer in Defendants’ positions would have believed that those acts did not violate the United States Constitution. Defendants moved for summary judgment on these grounds. Such a motion entitles Defendants to an early adjudication as to whether or not they are immune from suit for their alleged violation of Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. Although it may be clear that Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure were indeed violated, and that the agencies involved were engaged in grossly negligent and possibly malicious conduct, that does not necessarily mean that any one particular defendant knew or reasonably should have known that his or her actions violated the United States Constitution. Thus, it is possible that no one defendant may be subject to suit even though the entire group of defendants acting as a whole may have clearly committed constitutional violations. Moreover, even if immunity is not granted to any one individual defendant, this does not necessarily mean that such person is liable to any plaintiff. It merely indicates that such individual would be required to face a trial by jury to determine if that person is liable to any one or more of the plaintiffs. Thus, the question facing the Court is whether any one or more of the -plaintiffs is entitled to a jury trial against any one or more of the defendants. I. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND The major plaintiff in this case is Mom’s Inc. (“Mom’s”), a Virginia corporation now operating several restaurants in the Tidewater, Virginia area under the name “The Jewish Mother.” At the time the underlying facts arose, Mom’s was licensed by the ABC to operate only one restaurant located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The owners of Mom’s were also operating a restaurant in Norfolk, Virginia that was licensed in the name of Donaline Corporation (“Donaline”). Prior to becoming involved with the Norfolk restaurant, Mom’s was a “mom and pop” operation. The other plaintiffs include Mom’s principal shareholders Theodore Bonk (“Bonk”) and John Colaprete (“Colaprete”), Jewish Mother manager Richard Scott Miller (“Miller”), his wife Edy Miller, and Miller’s two children, Richard Scott Miller, II and Jennifer Marie Miller. This action arises out of searches conducted at The Jewish Mother restaurants operated by Mom’s in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, as well as searches conducted at the personal residences of plaintiffs Colaprete and Miller, on April 2, 1994. The searches were conducted by IRS and ABC agents pursuant to warrants authorized by United States Magistrate Judge Tommy Miller requiring the IRS to search the premises for certain items. Defendants, which include ABC and IRS agents, are accused of violating Plaintiffs’ constitutional civil rights in obtaining the warrants. Specifically, Plaintiffs claim that the affidavit submitted to the magistrate in support of the search warrants contained misrepresentations and omitted certain salient facts, and that Defendants failed to investigate the situation prior to seeking the warrants, which the investigating officers reasonably should have known violated Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. The basis of those alleged misrepresentations, and the claim that Defendants failed to adequately investigate the situation prior to seeking the warrants, centers around Defendants’ use of information provided by an informant named Deborah Shofner (“Shofner”). The record clearly indicates that misrepresentations were made in the affidavit in support of the search warrants. How and why these misrepresentations came about, and whether the individuals involved knew or reasonably should have known that Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights were being violated is the main issue before the Court. Plaintiff John Colaprete also claims that Defendants are liable for taking his gold watch during the search of his home and depriving him of the companionship of his dogs by altering their demeanor. The claims against the IRS defendants are brought pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), which allows a plaintiff to seek monetary damages from federal governmental officials who have violated his constitutional rights. The claims against the ABC defendants are brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiffs seek $20 million in both compensatory and exemplary damages. Plaintiffs filed this action, which originally included tort claims, on March 3, 1996. The United States was substituted for the individual federal employees as the proper defendant for the tort claims on December 26, 1996. The tort claims were subsequently dismissed for failure to comply with the filing requirements of the Federal Tort Claims Act. Plaintiffs also voluntarily dismissed seventeen individual defendants after conducting discovery and realizing that those defendants were not liable for constitutional violations. That left as defendants IRS agents Arlene Campsen (“Campsen”), Willman, and East, and ABC agents Dunford, Altman, and Santana. On May 14,1999, IRS defendant Campsen filed a motion for summary judgment. On that same day, IRS defendants Kast and Willman filed a joint motion for summary judgment. ABC defendants Dunford, Santana, and Altman followed with their own joint motion for summary judgment on May 17, 1999. Both the ABC and IRS defendants base their motions for summary judgment on the issue of immunity. The Court heard oral argument on the motions on June 16, 1999. After hearing argument on the motions and reviewing the parties’ briefs and numerous depositions filed in the record, on July 1, 1999, the Court granted Campsen’s motion for summary judgment. However, the Court did not rule on the other motions for summary judgment, and instead, held an evi-dentiary hearing at which sixteen witnesses testified on September 15, October 7, October 8, and October 12, 1999, in order to resolve the issues presented by those motions. In light of all the evidence, the parties then submitted further memo-randa on the issue of Defendants’ immunity. The motions for summary judgment based on immunity from suit are now ripe for decision. A. Background The original Jewish Mother restaurant is a moderately priced restaurant, owned and operated by Mom’s, located just off the oceanfront on Pacific Avenue in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The restaurant, which advertises itself as a New York-style delicatessen, is open twelve months of the year and serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Of particular concern to this case is the operation of the restaurant from 1990 through 1994. During that time, the restaurant seated between 189 and 216 people. The average bill per person at the restaurant commonly fell in the $10 to $15 range. In addition to meals, the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother often provided live music from local and sometimes nationally-known bands. On nights when a band was playing, the restaurant sometimes required that patrons pay a cover charge to gain admittance. The cover charge was usually between two and three dollars. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 342.) However, cover charges could range as high as ten dollars on nights when a nationally-known band was playing. (Id) Even when a band was playing, some guests could be admitted without paying a cover charge by entering the establishment for dinner prior to the start of the performance, and then remaining in the restaurant for the performance. (Id at 345.) According to David Giesen (“Giesen”), a bookkeeper at The Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach from October 1992 to September 1993, the restaurant usually collected thirty to one hundred dollars in cover charges on nights when a local band was playing. (See E.H. Ex. Vol. II, tab KW3.) The events which gave rise to the search of the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother restaurant on April 2, 1994, and ultimately to this litigation, began well before the search warrants were executed. As a restaurant licensed to sell alcoholic beverages in the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Jewish Mother was required by law to file a Mixed Beverage Annual Review (“MBAR”) with the ABC. In 1992, the person responsible for filing the tax returns and MBARs for The Jewish Mother was Don Robey (“Robey”). Robey had been employed by The Jewish Mother for some time prior to 1992. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 511-12.) In 1993, David Giesen signed the MBAR for reporting year 1992-1993. In late 1992 or early 1993, The Jewish Mother hired a certified public accountant (“CPA”) named D.B. Gray (“Gray”) to replace Robey. In addition to handling MBAR and tax return filings, Gray was retained to handle payroll and the payment of sales taxes for The Jewish Mother. (Id. at 497.) Shortly after he was hired, Gray discovered that Robey had failed to file The Jewish Mother’s federal tax returns for 1989, 1990, and 1991. (Id. at 497-98.) Gray wrote the IRS asking for copies of the returns for those years, which Robey was supposed to have filed, but the IRS indicated that it had not received those tax returns from The Jewish Mother. (Id. at 512, 514-15.) Gray immediately began working to file these past due returns, but this task was made difficult by the fact that Robey still had possession of many important records necessary for filing the returns, and he only returned those records to The Jewish Mother piece by piece over a long period of time. (Id. at 512-13.) Gray and an associate spent most of 1993 preparing the overdue returns, filing the 1992 return, and keeping up with the information that would be necessary for filing The Jewish Mother’s 1993 return. (Id. at 499.) During this time, Gray’s main contact at The Jewish Mother was bookkeeper David Giesen. (Id. at 500.) The late returns were finally filed in September 1993. (Id. at 516.) Subsequently sometime in October or November 1993, Gray was introduced to Deborah Shofner, The Jewish Mother’s new bookkeeper, and was told that she was going to help with The Jewish Mother’s financial records. (Id. at 500.) Shofner had originally been hired as a deli clerk for The Jewish Mother’s Virginia Beach location just a few weeks prior to being promoted to bookkeeper. (Colaprete Dep. at 58, 67.) In her statements to the investigators seeking search warrants in this case, Shof-ner stated that she started work in October 1993 and worked in the deli for a couple of weeks and then was promoted to bookkeeper. (Bennis Dep. at 28.) According to the information obtained by someone involved in the investigation that led to the searches in this case, at the time she was hired Shofner had a prior conviction for credit card fraud and was on parole under the guidance of a federal probation officer. Neither Colaprete nor Bonk were aware of this fact when they hired her. Soon after meeting Gray, Shofner complained to Gray about the penalties The Jewish Mother was being assessed by the IRS because of the late tax return filings for the years up to 1993. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 501.) Prior to the time Shofner was hired by Mom’s, and during the time Gray was working to put The Jewish Mother’s financial records in order in 1993, the IRS and the ABC had a program in place by which they shared information in an effort to identify restaurants that were under-reporting sales and income. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 9.) The two agencies had successfully worked together on a previous case. Under the information sharing program, the ABC agreed to send the IRS copies of MBARs for Tidewater restaurants that appeared, based on the MBARs, to have the highest potential for under-reporting. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 10.) In exchange, the IRS promised to share the results of its investigations with the ABC. (Id. at 10.) IRS agent Tom Ryan (“Ryan”) was working on the project with defendant Dave Altman of the ABC. (Id. at 14.) According to ABC defendant Dunford, the ABC would input all the information from the MBARs into a computer, which would then automatically calculate a markup percentage. (Dunford Dep. at 8.) The computer program would then indicate based on the markup percentage which restaurants were most likely under-reporting. (E.H. Tr., Vol. I at 64-65.) In July 1993, the IRS requested that the ABC send it MBARs for the eight worst offenders in the Tidewater, Virginia area. Using its computer program, the ABC selected an initial batch of eight MBARs from the Tidewater, Virginia area that showed the greatest likelihood of being under-reported and forwarded them to the IRS. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 10.) This initial batch did not include any MBARs from The Jewish Mother. Upon receipt, the IRS ordered tax returns from its Philadelphia Service Center for the restaurants represented in the MBARs. (Id. at 10.) Using those two documents, the IRS performed an analysis to determine whether it wanted to conduct an audit of any of the eight restaurants. (Id. at 10-11.) In September 1993, again at the request of the IRS, using its computer program the ABC selected a second batch of the eight worst MBARs from the Tidewater, Virginia area that appeared to be under-reported and forwarded them to the IRS. (Id. at 11.) The Jewish Mother’s MBARs were not included in this batch either. Apparently, in July and September 1993, according to the ABC’s computer program and those reviewing the results, The Jewish Mother’s MBAR was not one of the sixteen worst MBARs in the Tidewater, Virginia region with regard to potential under-reporting. Nevertheless, the IRS eventually received a copy of The Jewish Mother’s MBAR. A dispute exists over how this came to pass. According to IRS agent Ryan, on October 12,1993, after Gray filed The Jewish Mother’s late tax returns, Ryan specifically asked Altman to send him a copy of The Jewish Mother’s 1991 and 1992 MBARs. (Id. at 14-15.) Ryan claims that The Jewish Mother came to his attention and he therefore requested the MBARs because he had received information that The Jewish Mother potentially had not timely filed a tax return for the 1991 tax year. (Id. at 16.) Ryan received the MBARs he requested from the ABC sometime in November 1993. (Id. at 19.) Contrary to Agent Ryan’s account, Agent Dunford of the ABC contends that he sent four MBARs from The Jewish Mother to the IRS in October 1993 pursuant to the sharing agreement, after the ABC identified the restaurant as a potential under-reporter. ABC defendant Dun-ford specifically claims that he conducted an analysis of the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother’s MBARs in October 1993 and identified The Jewish Mother as a potential under-reporter at that time. There is no correspondence to support Dunford’s contention, but Ryan referred to his contemporaneous notes in which he specifically reported requesting the two MBARs and receiving the two that he requested. A jury could easily find that the only reason the MBARs were sent to the IRS in October 1993 was because IRS agent Ryan specifically requested them. In addition, a jury could find that Dunford and the ABC had not conducted an analysis of The Jewish Mother’s MBARs and thus, had not independently determined that the MBARs of the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother were under-reported ■ by October 1993. Furthermore, a jury could find that no such determination was made until after Deborah Shofner contacted the ABC in January 1994, as will be discussed further below. While Gray was getting The Jewish Mother’s books and filings in order and IRS agent Ryan was requesting The Jewish Mother’s MBARs, Mom’s, under the direction of Bonk and Colaprete, was looking to open a second Jewish Mother restaurant in the city of Norfolk, Virginia. Sometime in the later half of 1993, Mom’s began negotiations with Donaline, Inc. (“Donaline”) for the purchase of a location at 5215 Colley Avenue (“Colley Avenue location”) in Norfolk. Donaline owned the business and had been operating a restaurant there under the name “Colley Bay Café” since October 1992, although the location was closed during most of October and November 1993. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 729.) The two principal shareholders of Dona-line were Donald Berger (“Berger”) and George Lineberry (“Lineberry”). Line-berry was well-known among those involved in the Tidewater restaurant business. In fact, it appeared that he had connections with most every tavern in the Norfolk area through another business, he owned, Southern Amusements. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 307.) Through Southern Amusements, Lineberry provided a great number of amusements such as pool tables and video games to restaurants and bars throughout the Tidewater region. Essentially, Lineberry would lend money to the establishments he serviced through Southern Amusements and in exchange the owners would allow him to place Southern Amusements’ pool tables or video machines in the establishments and collect a portion of the proceeds of those amusements to pay back the note on the loan." (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 725.) Consequently, Lineberry had mortgages on a number of establishments in the Tidewater region. This position enabled Lineberry to learn about the availability of various restaurants in the area as they came up for sale. (Id.) If a particular restaurant he was involved with was unable to pay, occasionally Lineberry would take over the establishment and then try to sell it to someone else. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 308.) All of this was well known to the Norfolk police and those in the Tidewater restaurant and tavern business. (Id.) To facilitate dealings with Lineberry and Berger in the purchase of the Colley Avenue location from Donaline, and the dealings with the ABC . that such a sale would necessitate, Mom’s hired attorney Sullivan Callahan (“Callahan”). Callahan was acquainted with Lineberry and Berger and was a law associate of then Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Tom Moss. At first, Mom’s owners Bonk and Cola-prete approached Callahan with the idea of structuring a complete purchase of Dona-line’s stock by Mom’s. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 725-26.) But Callahan, who had also represented Berger at one time in the acquisition of a restaurant and an ABC license, was concerned that there would be some unforeseen problems associated with Donaline. (Id. at 725-26.) Callahan discouraged Bonk and Colaprete from acquiring Donaline’s stock and instead encouraged them to form a new corporation and to obtain a new ABC license for the establishment. (Id. ■ at 725-26.) In order to allow Mom’s to begin operating at the Colley Avenue location while they were in the process of completing the purchase and obtaining a new ABC license, Callahan drafted a management agreement to be executed by Mom’s and Donaline. (Id. at 726.) The management agreement provided that Donaline would hire Mom’s to operate the location while Mom’s secured its own ABC license. (E.H. Ex. Vol. I, tab 4.) After drafting the management agreement, on December 10, 1993 Callahan gave it to Deborah Shofner, who had been introduced to him as Mom’s business manager. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 726, 737.) According to Callahan, Shofner was to have the management agreement signed by both parties and then return it to Callahan. Meanwhile, attorney A. J: Kalfus, who represented Berger and Lineberry, had drafted a sales agreement and forwarded it to the attorneys for Bonk by a letter dated December 8, 1993. (E.H. Ex. Vol. I, tab 4.) Unfortunately for Bonk and Colaprete, by the time they were planning to reopen the Colley Avenue location, the ABC had also become interested in the location. In 1993 and 1994, ABC defendant Clyde Santana was a Special Agent with the ABC assigned to the Chesapeake, Virginia office. (E.H. Tr., Vol. IV at 760.) His jurisdiction included overseeing certain restaurants in the downtown Norfolk area, including the Colley Avenue location. (Id. at 761.) Callahan and Santana knew each other, and had interacted on many prior occasions with regard to ABC matters concerning other establishments. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 728.) Around December 7th or 8th of 1993, Callahan told Santana that the Mom’s owners had taken possession of the Colley Avenue location “for a deal they couldn’t refuse.” (Santana Dep. at 8; E.H. Tr., Vol. IV at 762.) Hearing that Mom’s had acquired the Colley Avenue location from Donaline apparently raised some concerns for Santana about Mom’s qualifications to operate a restaurant at the location. (Santana Dep. at 12, 13.) According to Santana, the Colley Avenue location had been under investigation since October 25, 1993 for failing to pay sales taxes while it was still being operated as the “Colley Bay Café” by Donaline. (Santana Dep. at 14.) On December 15, 1993, Bonk and Cola-prete reopened the Colley Avenue location under what they thought to be a valid management agreement with Donaline. On the day of the reopening, agent Santana visited the restaurant. (Bonk Dep. at 25.) There he met Bonk for the first time and informed him that Donaline had been under investigation for failing to pay sales taxes. (Bonk Dep. at 123; Santana Dep. at 16.) Bonk told Santana that Mom’s did not have a lease for the location, and that Mom’s was operating at the location pursuant to a management agreement with Do-naline. (Santana Dep. at 20; Santana Aff. ¶ 16.) Santana asked to see a copy of the management agreement, but Bonk told him he did not have one at that time. (Santana Aff. ¶ 16.) Santana then issued a written warning to Donaline on grounds that it had not met ABC regulations for monthly food sales for a mixed beverage license holder for May through November 1993. (Santana Aff. Ex. 2.) Bonk accepted and signed the warning on behalf of Donaline. (Id.) At all times Bonk was under the assumption that they were operating under a management agreement. The warning issued to Donaline was not the responsibility of Bonk or Mom’s, but that of Berger and Lineberry. Meanwhile, the underlying sale of the Colley Avenue location was not going smoothly. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 727.) In Callahan’s opinion, Berger was trying to get more money from Bonk and Colaprete out of the sale of the Colley Avenue location by threatening to surrender Dona-line’s ABC license to the ABC. (Id. at 731-82.) Shortly after Bonk and Cola-prete began operating at the Colley Avenue location on December 15, 1993, Berger called Santana and left a message requesting that Santana go to the Colley Avenue location and retrieve Donaline’s ABC license. (Santana Dep. at 28, 29.) Berger told Santana that he did not want to get the license himself because he was worried that if he went to the location, some words might be exchanged. (Santana Dep. at 28, 29.) Berger followed up this phone message by visiting Santana’s office on December 22, 1993, at which time he told Santana that he did not sign a management agreement with Mom’s, and that he could not get back into the Colley Avenue location to retrieve Donaline’s license. (Santana Aff. ¶ 18.) Nevertheless, Berger asked Santana not to take any action and instead, to give him and the Mom’s owners more time to resolve the issue. (Santana Dep. at 36.) In accordance with the request from Berger, Santana did not pull the ABC license of Donaline. Notably, neither Berger nor Santana ever called Callahan to ask him to surrender Donaline’s license for the Colley Avenue location. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 734.) Throughout this period, the principals of Mom’s genuinely believed that they were operating under a valid management agreement prepared by Callahan, despite the fact that shortly after December 25, 1993, Shofner still had not returned the signed management agreement to Callahan as he had requested. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 726.) When Shofner finally returned the agreement to Callahan, it bore what appeared to be Berger’s signature. (Id. at 728.) Around this same time, Shofner told Bonk and Callahan that she was going to file an ABC license application on behalf of Mom’s for the Colley Avenue location. (Id. at 752.) Around January 4, 1994, Bonk informed Santana that The Jewish Mother was setting up a corporation to purchase Dona-line’s stock, and instructed Santana to deal directly with Deborah Shofner. (Santana Dep. at 37; E.H. Tr., Vol. IV at 779.) Around January 13, 1994, Santana received a faxed copy of the management agreement from Shofner purportedly signed by Bonk and Berger. (Santana Aff. ¶ 21; E.H. Tr., Vol. IV at 780.) Santana did not, however, receive any other documents regarding the purchase of Do-naline by Mom’s or any other entity associated with Mom’s. (Santana Aff. ¶¶ 22-26.) Around January 19, 1994, Shofner told Santana that Mom’s was going to acquire Donaline’s stock on January 27, 1994. (Santana Aff. ¶ 24.) Shofner also sent Santana a copy of a card showing her to be the “comptroller” of The Jewish Mother. (Santana Aff. ¶ 24.) By this time, Shofner had convinced Bonk and Colaprete that Gray was overcharging for his services, and thereby, she had displaced Gray and become Mom’s main bookkeeper. (Bonk Dep. at 38; E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 503.) Meanwhile, Santana was still waiting for the ownership documents he had requested from Mom’s. Although Santana was waiting for documents from Mom’s concerning its acquisition of the Colley Avenue location, he never contacted Callahan to see what the problem was. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 728.) As noted above, Santana had interacted with Callahan with regard to other ABC matters for several years prior to this transaction. (Id. at 728.) In December 1993, Callahan informed Santana that Mom’s was looking to acquire the Colley Avenue location. (Santana Dep. at 8; E.H. Tr., Vol. IV at 762.) Callahan also had informed Santana that an ABC application for the Colley Avenue location would be forthcoming. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 727-28.) Callahan claims that Santana and the ABC knew from the beginning that he was representing Mom’s with regard to the Colley Avenue location in its dealings with the ABC. At the evidentiary hearing, Callahan testified as follows: THE COURT: Did the ABC people know you were handling this thing, ■ Mr. Callahan? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir, right from the start. I mean I had been dealing with Mr. Santana the whole time. Mr. Santa [sic] had this district. I mean he basically did the west side of Norfolk, had done a couple of places downtown. And anytime in the past we had something, if he called, we got it for him. I mean there was no inclination that there was anything so wrong that it could not be corrected by correcting some paperwork. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 742.) Callahan believed that Mom’s had a good ABC track record at the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother and therefore, he did not expect any problems in securing a new license for the Colley Avenue location. (Id. at 727-28.) Santana admits that Callahan told him in December 1993 that Mom’s was going to acquire the Colley Avenue location, nevertheless, Santana claims he did not know Callahan was representing Mom’s in the transaction until after March 25, 1994. (E.H. Tr., Vol. IV at 804.) ' By January 1994, Mom’s was operating Jewish Mother restaurants in Virginia Beach and at the Colley Avenue location in Norfolk. Without question, at this point Mom’s was unknowingly violating state law. Bonk and Colaprete at' that time believed they had a valid management agreement with Donaline to operate the Colley Avenue location. According to Berger, Shofner had in fact forged Berger’s signature to the management agreement. That Berger’s signature on the document was made by Shofner was not known to either Bonk or Colaprete, who believed the signature to be genuine. Oddly, the ABC knew it was not Berger’s signature, but never conveyed this to Callahan or the owners of Mom’s. The ABC did not pull the license at Berger’s request, and a question arises as to whether those actions constituted a ratification of the false signature by Berger. Mom’s was violating Virginia law because they had no valid management agreement, unless Berger’s actions would have been considered a ratification, and therefore no ABC license to sell alcohol at the Colley Avenue location. Moreover, Mom’s had not paid any sales tax on the Colley Avenue location since reopening in December. According to Bonk, Shofner told him that because Mom’s was only operating the Colley Avenue location a portion of December, they would not have to pay any sales tax until February 20, 1994. (Bonk Dep. at 127.) The fact that Mom’s was operating without a license and had not paid any sales tax would have been enough to merit an investigation and warning by the ABC. In fact, Santana and the ABC could even have entered the Colley Avenue location and seized The Jewish Mother’s financial records as well as the license of Donaline without a warrant pursuant to the ABC’s regulatory power. However, the ABC choose not to exercise this power. Arguably, the ABC was on hold in accordance with Berger’s request. A jury could conclude as Callahan did that Berger and Lineberry were trying to better their deal while the ABC took no action, all of which might arguably be considered ratification. On January 26, 1994, Shofner visited the office of Joseph Werle (“Werle”), a detective in the Economic Crimes Unit of the Virginia Beach Police Department. (Werle Dep. at 6-7.) Shofner told Werle that she was the comptroller of The Jewish Mother, and that a Jewish Mother employee named Veronica Haight had been embezzling funds from the restaurant. (Id. at 7.) Shofner brought a box of cash register tapes and nightly receipts, which she and Werle went over. (Id. at 7, 8.) Werle told Shofner that before opening an investigation he needed more information to corroborate her story. (Id. at 8, 9.) Shof-ner left Werle’s office, but never provided any further information. (Id.) By mid-March 1994, several things were occurring with regard to The Jewish Mother and its principals. First, the principals were legally operating a restaurant in Virginia Beach. Second, the principals were allegedly illegally operating at the Colley Avenue location, although they mistakenly believed they had a valid management agreement to operate the location. Third, the principals were continuing to negotiate with Donaline over the sale of the Colley Avenue location. Meanwhile, Mom’s principals were beginning to suspect that Shofner was embezzling from the company. Also at this time, Santana was still waiting to receive the sales documents he had requested from Mom’s. (Santana Aff-¶ 26.) On March 22, 1994, Santana contacted Bonk and informed him that he would be filing a violation report against Mom’s and Donaline if he did not receive sales documents within seven days. (Santana Aff. ¶ 26.) On that same day, Santana visited the Colley Avenue location and issued a written warning to Donaline for failing to disclose all ownership interests in Donaline to the ABC. (Santana Aff. ¶ 27.) The warning stated that the ABC needed information concerning either the purchase of Donaline, a transfer of stock assets, or a new lease. (E.H. Tr., Vol. IV at 769-71.) The issuance of this warning is curious, because since Santana was in touch with Berger, the ostensible seller of the Colley Avenue location with Lineberry, Santana certainly could have learned what documents existed concerning the sale of the location from Berger himself. He also could have contacted Callahan regarding the same, but he did not. About this same time, Colaprete, Bonk, and Jewish Mother manager and plaintiff Richard Scott Miller confirmed their suspicion that Shofner had been embezzling from The Jewish Mother. On March 19, 1994, Mom’s fired Shofner, (Id. at 782-83), and soon thereafter Miller contacted Detective Werle and told him about the embezzlement. (Werle Dep. at 9-10.) Werle told Miller he needed to come to the police station to file a report. Colaprete also called Werle with the same information. (Werle Dep. at 10-11.) Miller and Cola-prete did not immediately go to the police station, however. By this time, Miller knew that Shofner was on parole for a conviction for credit card fraud. (Bonk Dep. at 99.) Accordingly, on March 24, 1994, Miller and Colaprete visited Shof-ner’s probation officer, Mary Farashahi (“Farashahi”) and informed her of their allegations against Shofner. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 101-02.) Farashahi advised Co-laprete and Miller to speak with an attorney. (Id.) Shortly after, they did in fact contact Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Chuck Griffith (“Griffith”). (Id. at 105.) Griffith contacted Farashahi on March 27 to discuss Shofner. (E.H. Ct. Ex. 1, Notes of Probation Officer Farashahi). While Miller and Colaprete were accusing Shofner of embezzlement, she was accusing Bonk, Colaprete, and Miller of wrongdoing as well. On March 25, 1994, Shofner called Santana and told him she had been lying about Mom’s impending deal with Donaline. (Santana Aff. ¶ 31.) Santana did not know that Shofner had already been fired by Mom’s at this point. (E.H. Tr., Vol. IV at 782-83.) Shofner conveyed the following information to Santana: 1) contrary to what Bonk had told Santana on December 15, Mom’s held the lease on the Colley Avenue location; 2) no state sales tax had been paid by Mom’s for the Colley Avenue location since December; 3) Mom’s was not keeping records of conducting business at the Colley Avenue location; 4) Mom’s was currently using Dona-line’s ABC license, but intended to apply for a new license; and 5) there was a state tax lien of $54,000 against Donaline, and Mom’s was going to “get rid” of the Donaline corporation and walk away from the tax liability and apply for a new license. (Santana Aff. ¶ 31.) Meanwhile, D.B. Gray, who had been rehired sometime between March 22 and March 28, 1994 to replace Shofner as Mom’s accountant, informed the ABC and IRS of the situation concerning Shofner’s alleged embezzlement. On March 28, 1999, Gray telephoned ABC defendant Altman, who was at the time Special Agent in charge of the Financial Investigation Section of the ABC, (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 432), and informed him that he had recently been retained to complete the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother’s 1993-1994 MBAR. Gray also advised Altman that Mom’s had received a written warning from the ABC because its MBAR was late. Gray stated that he needed an extension because the previous bookkeeper, who the owners suspected had been embezzling from the company, had not filed the report as required. Gray followed up the telephone conversation on the same day by faxing a letter to Valarie Kelley (“Kelley”) at the ABC. Kelley was an investigator accountant with the ABC who, among other things, was responsible for spot-checking MBARs for suspicious figures. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 362, 364.) Gray’s letter to Kelley provided that on March 22, 1994 Mom’s had discovered “gross embezzlement and destruction of records by their bookkeeper.” (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 508; E.H. Ex. Vol. II, tab KW1.) The letter also stated that Mom’s had recently discovered that many of Mom’s tax and other filing requirements had not been met, including the 1993 MBAR. (E.H. Ex. Vol. II, tab KW1.) In the letter, Gray requested an extension of time to complete the MBAR, and assured Kelley that he was working to complete all necessary documentation. (Id.) He advised Kelley that charges of embezzlement against the former bookkeeper had been referred to the Virginia Beach Police Department. (Id.) Altman saw a copy of this letter and forwarded it to the IRS. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 433-34.) Although the letter did not name Shofner specifically as the person allegedly embezzling, Atman believed the letter was referring to Shof-ner, and that any reasonable person who saw the letter would have believed the same. (Id.) In addition to sending this letter to the ABC, Gray also wrote the IRS and advised that Mom’s might be late in filing its first quarter tax return. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 509-10.) When Mom’s principals discovered that Shofner had been embezzling, they also learned that she had not submitted an application for an ABC license on behalf of Mom’s as she had indicated she would. (Bonk Dep. at 62-63.) Bonk thought Shof-ner had submitted an application for a license immediately after the restaurant reopened at the Colley Avenue location on December 15, 1993. (Bonk Dep. at 51.) Callahan also believed the license application process was underway and that the Colley Avenue location would have a new license within thirty to forty-five days after reopening. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 729.) Ater learning Shofner had in fact not filed for a license, Bonk went to Callahan’s office to fill out the necessary paperwork to obtain a license. (Bonk Dep. at 63-64.) On March 28, 1999, Mom’s finally filed an application for an ABC license for the Colley Avenue location. (Bonk Dep. at 49.) Still, at this point neither Santana nor anyone else at the ABC had contacted Callahan with any concerns, despite the fact that Berger had told Santana the management agreement had been forged, and despite Shofner’s allegations. Instead of calling Callahan, Santana relayed Shofner’s allegations to his supervisor, ABC defendant Robert Dunford. Dunford was the Assistant Special Agent in charge of the Financial Investigations Section for the ABC and was operating out of Richmond, Virginia at the time. (E.H. Tr., Vol. I at 21.) Athough he was a former Norfolk police officer, Dunford maintains he did not know that Lineberry, through his company Southern Amuse-merits, had mortgages on most of the taverns in Tidewater. By this time, Dunford already knew that Mom’s was possibly selling alcohol at the Colley Avenue location without a license, since Santana had informed him about the situation in January 1994. (Id. at 46-47, 92-93.) Based on this information alone, Dunford wanted to arrest the owners of The Jewish Mother, (Id. at 78, 118; Dunford Dep. at 92-93.), however, according to Dunford, the higher-ups at the ABC felt that no arrest should be made. Before Santana approached him with this information, however, Dunford claims he had already been conducting his own investigation into the finances of the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother. Dunford claims that in October 1993, he examined the Virginia Beach restaurant’s MBARs for reporting years 1989 through 1992 and determined that the owners had under-reported more than $500,000 in sales in one year. (Id. at 9, 48; Dunford Dep. at 8.) After conducting this analysis, Dunford claims he then sent the MBARs to the IRS pursuant to the ABC/IRS information sharing agreement. As noted earlier, a jury could easily find that The Jewish Mother MBARs sent to the IRS in October 1993 were those specifically requested by IRS agent Ryan and consisted only of those MBARs representing the reporting years 1991 and 1992, not 1989 through 1992 as Dunford reports. Those MBARs were sent to the IRS because the IRS requested them — not for the reasons claimed by Dunford. A jury could find that the comparison and analysis Dunford claims to have conducted in October 1993 was not performed until after March 25, 1994. Regardless of when Dunford actually conducted his analysis, Dunford states that in his analysis he used certain pricing information for the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother he obtained from Norfolk Police Sergeant Stephan Bennis (“Bennis”), who had visited the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother on a social basis. As will be explained below, Bennis did not become involved in this investigation until March 1994 after Shofner approached Santana. Dunford did not consult the ABC agent assigned to the Virginia Beach location to determine prices. (E.H. Tr., Vol. I at 34.) Bennis told Dunford that the cheapest beer one could purchase at the Virginia Beach location was two dollars. (IcL at 31, 33.) Based only on the beer pricing information he received from Bennis and without any information concerning the price of wine, Dunford claims he compared The Jewish Mother MBAR “beer and wine” purchase and sale figures against the average state-wide markup for purchases and sales and concluded that The Jewish Mother was under-reporting its sales and possibly in violation of federal law. (Id. at 103, 126.) The Virginia Beach Jewish Mother reported on its MBAR covering the period February 1989 through January 1990 that it spent $93,626.26 to purchase beer and wine that was sold for $133,-176.80. The MBAR for February 1990 through January 1991 reported beer and wine purchases of $75,671.17 and beer and wine sales of $92,086.32. The MBAR for the period February 1991 through January 1992 reported beer and wine purchases of $131,590.02 and beer and wine sales of $72,949.69. The MBAR for February 1992 through January 1993 reported beer and wine purchases of $126,327.44 and beer and wine sales of $201,231.42. Dunford felt the beer and wine sales figures on the MBARs for 1989-1990, 1990-1991, and 1991-1992 were all understated. Dunford examined only the wine and beer figures on the MBARs — not the mixed beverage figures. (Id. at 51.) He did not consider that the beer and wine figures might have been inadvertently reported with mixed beverages. Clearly the mixed beverage figures were greater than that which would have been the general markup. After hearing the information Santana obtained from Shofner in March, Dunford instructed Santana to question Shofner about the Colley Avenue location, despite the fact he knew that she had been accused of embezzlement. (E.H. Tr., Vol. I at 21-22; Santana Aff. ¶ 37.) Accordingly, on March 29, 1994, Santana and Detective M. Melville (“Melville”) of the Norfolk Police Department went to Shofner’s house to interview her. (Santana Aff. ¶ 37.) After speaking with Santana and Melville at her home, Shofner agreed to come to the Norfolk Police Department for further questioning. (Santana Aff. ¶ 37.) That same day, Santana, Melville, and Bennis interviewed Shofner at the Norfolk Police Department. (Santana Aff. ¶ 38.) According to Santana and Bennis, at this meeting Shofner provided the following information: 1) Berger was no longer involved with the Colley Avenue location; 2) the lease on the Colley Avenue location was in the name of Mom’s; 3) once the ABC became interested in the ownership and operation of the Colley Avenue location, she had been told by Bonk to lie to Santana and the ABC and withhold information from him and the ABC concerning the business at the Colley Avenue location; 4) Mom’s had asked her to make two sets of books, one for tax purposes and another correct set of books for the business; 5) Berger had not signed off on the management agreement between Mom’s and Donaline and that she had forged his signature; 6) Mom’s had not paid any state meal taxes on the Colley Avenue location; 7) Bonk and Colaprete had discovered some tax problems with Donaline and were going to abandon the Donaline ■ corporation and apply for a new license under Mom’s name; 8) she had seen what she believed to be in excess of 100 kilograms of cocaine on the premises of the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother stacked in one foot by one foot bags in a pile equivalent to the size of a cord of wood; 9) Richard Miller, one of the individuals involved with Mom’s had been convicted of drugs; 10) the Mom’s owners had been under-reporting more than one million dollars every year since 1989, up to two million dollars in one particular year, for the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother; 11) she had been Mom’s bookkeeper since October/November 1993; 12) she was a CPA and had graduated from college; 13) she had a criminal record and was on probation; 14) all the money from the Colley Avenue location was going to Mom’s; 15) the persons operating the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother were skimming money from that operation; 16) money was being laundered through The Jewish Mother out of the Caribbean via wire transfers; 17) Colaprete had Jamaican connections; 18) someone from The Jewish Mother had beaten her up and threatened to hurt her and her baby if she spoke with Santana. (Santana Aff. ¶ 38; Santana Dep. Ex. 3; Bennis Dep. at 9.) According to Bennis, he believed Shofner’s story because she appeared to be incriminating herself, she was in a position to know the facts she claimed to know, and she was willing to testify. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 297.) Bennis scheduled a second interview for Shofner to be held the next day at the FBI offices in Norfolk, and called Dunford’s supervisor, ABC defendant Altman, in Richmond, to inform him of the situation. (Id. at 444-45.) Bennis made it quite clear that the state sales tax was not part of this investigation regardless of what others may say. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 270.) Dunford disagrees with Bennis saying the main concern at ABC is sales tax. (Dunford Dep. at 48.) A jury could believe Bennis. While Santana, Bennis, and Melville were meeting with Shofner on March 29, 1994 in Norfolk, Miller and Colaprete were finally meeting with Detective Werle in Virginia Beach to discuss their allegations against Shofner. (Werle Dep. at 12.) The day before the meeting with Miller and Colaprete, Werle ran a computerized criminal history search on Shofner through the National Computerized Information Center (“NCIC”). (Id. at 12-14.) From the NCIC, Werle learned that Shofner had previously been sentenced to ten months imprisonment for credit card fraud in Florida. (Id. at 13.) In addition, on March 28, 1994, Werle called and spoke with probation officer Farashahi. (See E.H. Ct. Ex. 1, Notes of Probation Officer Farashahi.) After the meeting with Cola-prete and Miller on March 29, Werle entered Shofner’s name into the Virginia Beach Economic Crimes Unit database, which is a record of all persons under investigation in Virginia Beach for economic crimes. (Id. at 20, 25-27; E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 70-72.) Thus, before the affidavit and the search warrants were issued in this case, both Werle of the Virginia Beach Police, and Griffith, the Commonwealth’s Attorney of Norfolk, were investigating Shofner. (E.H. Ct. Ex. 1, Notes of Probation Officer Farashahi.) The next day, March 30, 1994, Shofner was brought to the FBI offices in Norfolk. There is a dispute as to how many meetings were conducted at the FBI office and who was present at each meeting. Plaintiffs maintain that there were two meetings at the FBI office. Defendants argue that there was only one meeting. Plaintiffs rely upon the testimony of former FBI agent Steven Scheiner (“Scheiner”). Scheiner claims he participated in a meeting with Santana, Bennis, and Shofner, at which the topic of a joint investigation of The Jewish Mother conducted by the ABC, Norfolk Police, and the FBI was raised. (E.H. Tr, Vol. IV at 836.) According to Scheiner, at this meeting Shbf-ner stated that she was friends with Sonny Stallings (“Stallings”), a prominent attorney in the Tidewater area, and that Stall-ings had been approached and threatened by someone affiliated with The Jewish Mother in an effort to persuade Stallings to prevent Shofner from turning over any of The Jewish Mother’s records to the ABC. (Scheiner Dep. at 8.) Scheiner claims that after hearing Shofner’s story, he advised Santana and Bennis that the FBI was not interested in the matter and that he doubted the veracity of Shofner’s story, especially her drug allegations, and felt her accusations needed corroborating. (Id. at 12.) Scheiner maintains that he indicated to Santana and Bennis that he felt that it did not make sense for The Jewish Mother principals to approach and threaten Stallings, and that Shofner’s story sounded like something from a bad movie. (Id. at 17.) Scheiner knew Stall-ings through a mutual friend. (Scheiner Dep. at 13.) Accordingly, Scheiner claims he suggested to Bennis and Santana that they allow him to ask Stallings whether he knew Shofner and if Stallings had in fact been approached by someone trying to keep Shofner from going to the ABC. (Id. at 11.) Santana and Bennis declined Scheiner’s offer to use Stallings to corroborate that portion of Shofner’s story, (Id. at 13), and indeed never contacted Stall-ings. Contrary to Scheiner’s account, the other witnesses describe only one interview conducted at the FBI office, in which FBI agent Beth O’Brian (“O’Brian”), Santana, Dunford, Bennis, Altman, and several other unidentified individuals were present and listened to Shofner’s story of alleged drugs, embezzling, and fraud at The Jewish Mother. (Altman Aff. ¶ 18; Bennis Aff. ¶ 10; Dunford Aff. ¶ 19.) At this meeting Shofner had with her a box containing what she claimed were business documents from The Jewish Mother, including cash register tapes and handwritten daily sheets. (Bennis Dep. at 14.) Although no one has been able to remember or produce the documents Shofner had with her at the meeting, in a memorandum memorializing the meeting O’Brian stated that Shofner presented “persuasive documentation” showing that The Jewish Mother maintained two sets of books. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 48-49; E.H. Ex. Vol. II, tab 9, p. 9.) However, O’Brian was skeptical of Shofner’s claim that she had seen more than 100 kilograms of cocaine at the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother. She relayed Shofner’s drug story to a drug agent who also expressed skepticism about its veracity. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 53-54.) O’Brian then informed her supervisor that she felt the case was better suited for the IRS rather than the FBI. (Id. at 52-53.) Notably, O’Brian left this meeting under the impression that it was the ABC that wanted to seek search warrants in the case, noting in her memorandum that “[t]he ABC Board intends to move quickly to prepare search warrant affidavits for both JM restaurants and the homes of the three owners.” (Id. at 62; E.H. Ex. Vol. II, tab 9, p. 10.) This note is interesting, since it tends to show that it was the ABC which intended to seek search warrants for the residences of the principals of The Jewish Mother. At this meeting, Shofner also told the agents that The Jewish Mother’s owners kept a second copy of The Jewish Mother’s financial records detailing their skimming on the second floor of The Jewish Mother location at Virginia Beach. For Dunford, who already wanted to arrest The Jewish Mother principals, the location of the records was the only piece of information provided by Shofner that was both new to him and useful. (E.H. Tr., Vol. I at 75.) Armed with knowledge of the location of the alleged second set of books, pursuant to Virginia law Dunford and the ABC could have legally entered the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother restaurant without a search warrant and seized all business records. (Id. at 41.) Dunford did not need the assistance of the FBI, IRS, DEA, or any othér agency to take such action. But Dunford did not pursue this available course of action, and instead, decided to take Shofner’s story to the IRS to seek search warrants, which were totally unnecessary to obtain the records. By late in the evening on March 30, 1994, Shofner remained at the FBI office while Dunford described the situation and Shofner’s allegations to IRS defendant Cheryl Kast. (Willman Dep. at 25-26.) Kast was the group supervisor of IRS special agents in the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS’ Norfolk office. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 567.) After speaking with Dunford, Kast assigned IRS defendant Carol Willman to handle the case. (Willman Dep. at 26.) Willman had been with the IRS since 1986, and came to the Tidewater area in 1990. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 648-49.) Prior to this case, she had assisted other agents in a limited capacity on only one other investigation concerning a restaurant. (Id. at 679-80.) After being assigned to the case by Kast, Willman went to the FBI office and listened to Shofner once again recount her story, this time in the presence of O’Brian, Dunford, Altman, Bennis, and Santana. (Willman Dep. at 26.) In addition to the information she had already provided, Shofner told Willman the following: 1) Mom’s rented a storage space, unit number 118, for sixty-six dollars per month; 2) she had participated and established the accounting mechanism to hide Mom’s scheme to defraud the ABC, state department of taxation, and the IRS; and 3) she had discovered that Mom’s had under-reported $2 million in 1993, $1.9 million in 1992, $1 million in 1991, $1 million in 1990, and $1 million in 1989. (Search Warrant Aff. ¶¶ 8, 10, 11.) The meeting lasted approximately one hour. Although Shofner still had her box of documents with her, none of the documents were reviewed at that time. (Willman Dep. at 26, 28.) Altman assigned Dunford and Kelley to work closely with Willman and to provide her with any assistance she needed in her investigation. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 454.) At this point, the IRS had officially become involved in the investigation. There is a question as to whether this was the IRS’ investigation or a joint investigation between the IRS and ABC. ABC defendants Altman and Dunford contend that the IRS ran the investigation and that the ABC was only involved in a support role. IRS defendants Willman and East contend that this was a joint investigation. A jury could easily find that, at the very least, this was a joint investigation, and quite possibly an ABC investigation in which the ABC agents merely used the resources and power of the IRS for their own purposes. The following morning, March 31, 1994, the group traveled to the ABC offices in Richmond, where Willman met with Shof-ner, Altman, Dunford, Bennis, Santana, and Kelley. (Willman Dep. at 29-30,) Dunford drove Shofner from Norfolk to Richmond. (E.H. Tr., Vol. I at 121.) Dunford claims that Deborah Shofner and he did not discuss any of these matters at all during the hour and a half to two hour drive to Richmond. (E.H. Tr., Vol. I at 71.) A jury might find this difficult to accept since Mrs. Shofner was so loquacious. Although Willman does not specify how long this meeting lasted, she remained at the ABC office in Richmond from nine in the morning until two the next morning. (Willman Dep. at 30.) While in Richmond at the ABC’s offices, Willman began drafting an affidavit in support of a search warrant. During this time, Willman reviewed a so-called analysis of the documents Shofner had provided that was being prepared by ABC accountant Valarie Kelley. (Willman Decl. ¶ 2.) Willman also spoke with Bennis about steps he was taking to corroborate information, and she conducted a limited investigation of her own. Although investigations conducted prior to the application for search warrants are often necessarily conducted in a short period of time due to the exigencies of the situation, this investigation was even more hurried than usual. Sunday April 3, 1994 was Easter Sunday, and beginning the Monday after Easter, April 4, 1994, all of the IRS agents involved in the case were due to attend a professional education training seminar at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. (E.H. Tr., Vol. Ill at 594; Willman Dep. at 131.) B. ABC Agent Kelley’s Analysis Kelley began working for the ABC in Richmond as an investigator accountant on August 30, 1993. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 427.) At that time she was a recent graduate and had obtained a degree in business administration and had passed two sections of the CPA exam. (Id. at 363.) In early 1994, Kelley’s supervisor was ABC defendant Altman. She also worked with Dunford on occasion. Her responsibilities included spot-checking MBARs. (Id. at 364.) Although Kelley had worked on other investigations prior to being assigned to assist Willman, this was the first time she had been assigned to be the lead ABC accountant in charge of preparing an analysis, as she had only been with the ABC a little over six months. (Id. at 428-29.) The information Kelley had to work with in completing her task was incomplete, unauthenticated, and worst of all supplied by Shofner. Kelley had the MBARs which had been provided by the Virginia Beach Jewish Mother to the ABC, and cash register tapes which were provided by Shofner and which Shofner alone had represented to be from The Jewish Mother’s cash registers, and supposedly also handwritten daily sheets, which were also provided and verified only by Shofner. {Id. at 366-67, 377, 402.) Kelley knew the seating capacity of the restaurant from the MBARs, but she did not know the amount of the average check per person at the restaurant. {Id. at 385.) The cash register tapes showed a running daily total for the restaurant, represented by the notation “GRP Total.” Kelley compared the cash register tapes Shofner had given her with the handwritten daily sheets also allegedly provided by Shofner. (Id. at 381.) No comparison was made to any national standards like those utilized by the restaurant industry. {Id. at 382.) Using the tapes and daily sheets, Kelley prepared a document that summarized what she believed to be the total monetary intake by The Jewish Mother for the period of November 9, 1993 through November 23, 1993. {See E.H. Ex. Vol. I, tab 8.) This document supposedly summarized the daily receipts. of the restaurant broken down into daily cash and checks, daily cash register totals, cover charges, and “system shut off.” Kelley took the A.M. and P.M. receipt totals, and added to them figures representing cover charges and “system shut off’ which evidently had been provided by Shofner. (E.H. Tr., Vol. II at 400.) Based on the documents she reviewed and the information from’Shofner, Kelley concluded that The Jewish Mother was under-reporting as much as $8,000 to $10,000 per day, and a total of up to approximately $77,000 for the fifteen-day period between November 9, 1993 and November 23, 1993. {Id. at 397, 418.) The cover charge figures Kelley used in her analysis, ranged as high as $8,345.68 on one particular night. Kelley fígüred that from November 9, 1993 to November 23, 1993, The Jewish Mother brought in more than $25,000 in cover charges alone. For a 200-seat restaurant that usually charges two to three dollars cover, and at most, around ten dollars for cover, $25,000 represents an extraordinarily high figure for a fifteen-day period. According to Kelley, Shofner told her the skimming was being accomplished by not ringing sales items into the cash register. {Id. at 420-21.) Kelley concluded, based on the undocumented material provided by Shofner, that during the fifteen-day period, the restaurant brought in more than $31,000 with the system “shut-off,” and thus, unreported. Kelley believed The Jewish Mother could be utilizing this practice to ski