The district judge, however, set aside the verdict and entered an order of acquittal pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 29(b), concluding that Friedhaber's false statements had not been "material." The United States appealed and a divided panel of this Court affirmed the district court's determination in United States of America v. James Arthur Friedhaber, 826 F.2d 284 (4th Cir. 1987). A majority of this Court having now voted to rehear the government's appeal en banc, we reconsider the issue and reverse.
Given the wide-ranging investigative function of the grand jury, the materiality of any line of inquiry pursued by a grand jury must be broadly construed. In attempting to define materiality of testimony in grand jury proceedings, the Court in U.S. v. Friedhaber, 826 F.2d 284, 286 (4th Cir. 1987), on reconsideration, 856 F.2d 640 (4th Cir. 1988) held that testimony is material if it has the natural effect or tendency to impede, influence or dissuade the grand jury from pursuing its investigation. The scope of the grand jury investigation in the case sub judice was broad.