28 U.S.C. § 2466
Section 2466 · Fugitive disentitlement
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 44 court decisions — leading case Collazos v. United States (2004)
Most recently applied in United States v. Younes Nasri (October 2024)
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) A judicial officer may disallow a person from using the resources of the courts of the United States in furtherance of a claim in any related civil forfeiture action or a claim in third party proceedings in any related criminal forfeiture action upon a finding that such person—
(1) after notice or knowledge of the fact that a warrant or process has been issued for his apprehension, in order to avoid criminal prosecution—
(A) purposely leaves the jurisdiction of the United States;
(B) declines to enter or reenter the United States to submit to its jurisdiction; or
(C) otherwise evades the jurisdiction of the court in which a criminal case is pending against the person; and
(2) is not confined or held in custody in any other jurisdiction for commission of criminal conduct in that jurisdiction.
(b) Subsection (a) may be applied to a claim filed by a corporation if any majority shareholder, or individual filing the claim on behalf of the corporation is a person to whom subsection (a) applies.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2001—Pub. L. 107–56, which directed amendment of section 2466 of title 18 by designating existing provisions as subsec. (a) and adding subsec. (b), was executed to this section to reflect the probable intent of Congress because title 18 does not contain a section 2466.
Termination Date of 2001 Amendment
Amendments by title III of Pub. L. 107–56 to terminate effective on and after the first day of fiscal year 2005 if Congress enacts a joint resolution that such amendments no longer have the force of law, see section 303 of Pub. L. 107–56, set out as a Four-Year Congressional Review; Expedited Consideration note under section 5311 of Title 31, Money and Finance.
Effective Date
Pub. L. 106–185, §14(c), Apr. 25, 2000, 114 Stat. 219, provided that: “The amendments made by this section [enacting this section] shall apply to any case pending on or after the date of the enactment of this Act [Apr. 25, 2000].”