18 U.S.C. § 158
Section 158 · Designation of United States attorneys and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to address abusive reaffirmations of debt and materially fraudulent statements in bankruptcy schedules
This is § 203 of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Americas, LLC v. Miller (2009)
Most recently applied in Billings v. Portnoff Law Associates, Ltd. (April 2017)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) In General.—The Attorney General of the United States shall designate the individuals described in subsection (b) to have primary responsibility in carrying out enforcement activities in addressing violations of section 152 or 157 relating to abusive reaffirmations of debt. In addition to addressing the violations referred to in the preceding sentence, the individuals described under subsection (b) shall address violations of section 152 or 157 relating to materially fraudulent statements in bankruptcy schedules that are intentionally false or intentionally misleading.
(b) United States Attorneys and Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.—The individuals referred to in subsection (a) are—
(1) the United States attorney for each judicial district of the United States; and
(2) an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for each field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(c) Bankruptcy Investigations.—Each United States attorney designated under this section shall, in addition to any other responsibilities, have primary responsibility for carrying out the duties of a United States attorney under section 3057.
(d) Bankruptcy Procedures.—The bankruptcy courts shall establish procedures for referring any case that may contain a materially fraudulent statement in a bankruptcy schedule to the individuals designated under this section.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Effective Date
Section effective 180 days after Apr. 20, 2005, and not applicable with respect to cases commenced under Title 11, Bankruptcy, before such effective date, except as otherwise provided, see section 1501 of Pub. L. 109–8, set out as an Effective Date of 2005 Amendment note under section 101 of Title 11.