18 U.S.C. § 651
Section 651 · Disbursing officer falsely certifying full payment
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case State v. Parrish (1941)
Most recently applied in Boyd v. Wilmington Trust Co. (June 2009)
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 an officer charged with the disbursement of the public moneys, accepts, receives, or transmits to the Government Accountability Office to be allowed in his favor any receipt or voucher from a creditor of the United States without having paid the full amount specified therein to such creditor in such funds as the officer received for disbursement, or in such funds as he may be authorized by law to take in exchange, shall be fined under this title or in double the amount so withheld, whichever is greater, or imprisoned not more than two years, or both; but if the amount withheld does not exceed $1,000, he shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, 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., §181 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §95, 35 Stat. 1106; June 10, 1921, ch. 18, §304, 42 Stat. 24).
The penalty provided by section 652 of this title, a similar section, was incorporated in this section.
(For explanation of the smaller penalty for an offense involving $100 or less, see reviser's notes under sections 641 and 645 of this title.)
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
2004—Pub. L. 108–271 substituted “Government Accountability Office” for “General Accounting Office”.
1996—Pub. L. 104–294 substituted “$1,000” for “$100”.
1994—Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(2)(G), substituted “shall be fined under this title or in double the amount so withheld, whichever is greater, or imprisoned” for “shall be fined in double the amount so withheld 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”.