18 U.S.C. § 652
Section 652 · Disbursing officer paying lesser in lieu of lawful amount
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case United States v. Brewer (1990)
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, clerk, agent, employee, or other person charged with the payment of any appropriation made by Congress, pays to any clerk or other employee of the United States, or of any department or agency thereof, a sum less than that provided by law, and requires such employee to receipt or give a voucher for an amount greater than that actually paid to and received by him, is guilty of embezzlement, and 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 embezzled is $1,000 or less, 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., §172 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §86, 35 Stat. 1105).
Words “or of any department or agency thereof,” were inserted after “United States” so as to eliminate any possible ambiguity as to scope of section. (See definitive section 6 of this title.)
Mandatory punishment provision made in alternative.
The smaller punishment for an offense involving $100 or less was added. (See reviser's note under sections 641, 645 of this title.)
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 “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”.