41 U.S.C. § 54
Section 54 · Criminal penalties
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case United States v. Acme Process Equipment Co. (1967)
Most recently applied in United States ex rel. Vavra v. Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (July 2013)
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.
Any person who knowingly and willfully engages in conduct prohibited by section 53 of this title shall be imprisoned for not more than 10 years or shall be subject to a fine in accordance with title 18, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1986—Pub. L. 99–634 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section read as follows: “Any person who shall knowingly, directly or indirectly, make or receive any such prohibited payment shall be fined not more than $10,000 or be imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.”
1960—Pub. L. 86–695 reenacted section without change.
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 99–634 effective with respect to conduct described in section 53 of this title which occurs on or after Nov. 7, 1986, see section 3(a) of Pub. L. 99–634, set out as a note under section 51 of this title.