18 U.S.C. § 473
Section 473 · Dealing in counterfeit obligations or securities
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 160 court decisions — leading case United States v. Boney (1992)
Most recently applied in Landor v. Louisiana Dept of Corrections and Public Safety Revisions: 6/24/26 (U.S. 2026, slip opinion) (June 2026)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 371 · 18 U.S.C. § 472 · 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 buys, sells, exchanges, transfers, receives, or delivers any false, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States, with the intent that the same be passed, published, or used as true and genuine, 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., §268 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §154, 35 Stat. 1117).
Reference to circulating notes of banking associations was omitted as covered by definition of obligation or other security in section 8 of this title.
Changes in phraseology were made.
Amendments
2001—Pub. L. 107–56 substituted “20 years” for “ten 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.