Esq., attorney for the trustee in bankruptcy, put certain questions to Rosenthal. Rosenthal's attorney interrupted, indicating that because it appeared that the questions posed might elicit answers leading to a criminal charge, he wished to instruct his client of his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer. The meeting then adjourned.
The first meeting of creditors resumed on March 20, 1979. At that point Kilstein took up the inquiry which he had begun on March 6. Once again, Rosenthal's attorney raised the Fifth Amendment concerns. At that point, the bankruptcy judge made a ruling. Apparently relying on the immunity provision contained in 11 U.S.C. § 25(a)(10),[1] the bankruptcy judge directed Rosenthal to answer:

*981 THE COURT: Well, I am going to rule now ....
I rule that the witness must answerJonathan Ganz, Esq., went immediately to the office of the United States Attorney. There they informed Assistant United States Attorney Walter Batty of the bankruptcy judge's instruction. *982 Cognizant of the immunity statute and wary of the potential taint on evidence gathered as a result of immunized testimony, Batty did not ask Kilstein and Ganz to furnish substantive details of Rosenthal's suspect conduct; and no such information was volunteered. Nor was the Government apprised of the basis for the bankruptcy judge's conclusion that there were aspects of the Pasco bankruptcy that warranted reference to law enforcement authorities.
Following the Kilstein-Ganz interview, Batty referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Some weeks later, Agent Edward M. Velasco spoke with Kilstein at his office and learned from Kilstein that