18 U.S.C. § 915
Section 915 · Foreign diplomats, consuls or officers
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case United States v. Elie (1997)
Most recently applied in United States v. The-Nimrod Sterling (May 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.
Whoever, with intent to defraud within the United States, falsely assumes or pretends to be a diplomatic, consular or other official of a foreign government duly accredited as such to the United States and acts as such, or in such pretended character, demands or obtains or attempts to obtain any money, paper, document, or other thing of value, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on section 232 of title 22, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Foreign Relations and Intercourse (June 15, 1917, ch. 30, title VIII, §2, 40 Stat. 226; Mar. 28, 1940, ch. 72, §6, 54 Stat. 80).
Reference to “jurisdiction” of the United States was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “United States” in section 5 of this title.
Mandatory punishment provision was rephrased in the alternative.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”.
Canal Zone
Applicability of section to Canal Zone, see section 14 of this title.
Cross References
Jurisdiction of offenses, see section 3241 of this title.
Letters, writings, etc., in violation of this section as nonmailable, see section 1717 of this title.