18 U.S.C. § 645
Section 645 · Court officers generally
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case Southern Union Co. v. United States (2012)
Most recently applied in United States v. Bengis (April 2015)
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, being a United States marshal, clerk, receiver, referee, trustee, or other officer of a United States court, or any deputy, assistant, or employee of any such officer, retains or converts to his own use or to the use of another or after demand by the party entitled thereto, unlawfully retains any money coming into his hands by virtue of his official relation, position or employment, is guilty of embezzlement and shall, where the offense is not otherwise punishable by enactment of Congress, be fined under this title or not more than double the value of the money so embezzled, whichever is greater, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; but if the amount embezzled does not exceed $1,000, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
It shall not be a defense that the accused person had any interest in such moneys or fund.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §186 (May 29, 1920, ch. 212, 41 Stat. 630).
The smaller punishment for an offense involving $100 or less was inserted to conform to section 641 of this title which represents a later expression of congressional intent.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1996—Pub. L. 104–294 substituted “$1,000” for “$100”.
1994—Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(2)(G), substituted “be fined under this title or not more than double the value of the money so embezzled, whichever is greater, or imprisoned” for “be fined not more than double the value of the money so embezzled or imprisoned”.
Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(1)(H), substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000” after “he shall be”.
Cross References
Embezzlement by bankruptcy court officer, see section 153 of this title.
Refusal to pay as evidence of embezzlement, see section 3487 of this title.