18 U.S.C. § 472
Section 472 · Uttering counterfeit obligations or securities
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 933 court decisions — leading case United States v. Daughtrey (1989)
Most recently applied in United States v. William Serrano Domenech (March 2023)
Applied most in the Ninth Circuit Circuit (122 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 371 · 18 U.S.C. § 3553 · 18 U.S.C. § 471
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.
Whoever, with intent to defraud, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or with like intent brings into the United States or keeps in possession or conceals any falsely made, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §265 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §151, 35 Stat. 1116).
Mandatory punishment provision was rephrased in the alternative.
Changes in phraseology were made.
Amendments
2001—Pub. L. 107–56 substituted “20 years” for “fifteen years”.
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”.
Termination Date of 2001 Amendment
Amendments by title III of Pub. L. 107–56 to terminate effective on and after the first day of fiscal year 2005 if Congress enacts a joint resolution that such amendments no longer have the force of law, see section 303 of Pub. L. 107–56, set out as a Four-Year Congressional Review; Expedited Consideration note under section 5311 of Title 31, Money and Finance.