18 U.S.C. § 514
Section 514 · Fictitious obligations
This is § 101 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 81 court decisions — leading case Jones v. United States (1999)
Most recently applied in United States v. Richard Lee Graham (December 2020)
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.
(a) Whoever, with the intent to defraud—
(1) draws, prints, processes, produces, publishes, or otherwise makes, or attempts or causes the same, within the United States;
(2) passes, utters, presents, offers, brokers, issues, sells, or attempts or causes the same, or with like intent possesses, within the United States; or
(3) utilizes interstate or foreign commerce, including the use of the mails or wire, radio, or other electronic communication, to transmit, transport, ship, move, transfer, or attempts or causes the same, to, from, or through the United States,
any false or fictitious instrument, document, or other item appearing, representing, purporting, or contriving through scheme or artifice, to be an actual security or other financial instrument issued under the authority of the United States, a foreign government, a State or other political subdivision of the United States, or an organization, shall be guilty of a class B felony.
(b) For purposes of this section, any term used in this section that is defined in section 513(c) has the same meaning given such term in section 513(c).
(c) The United States Secret Service, in addition to any other agency having such authority, shall have authority to investigate offenses under this section.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
Sections 101(f) [title VI, §648(b)(1)] and 2603(b)(1) of div. A of Pub. L. 104–208 added identical sections 514.
Effective Date
Section effective Sept. 30, 1996, and to remain in effect for each fiscal year following Sept. 30, 1996, see section 101(f) [title VI, §648(c)] of Pub. L. 104–208, set out as an Effective Date of 1996 Amendment note under section 474 of this title.