49 U.S.C. § 46507
Section 46507 · False information and threats
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 10 court decisions — leading case United States v. Cothran (2002)
Most recently applied in United States v. Isac Schwarzbaum (January 2025)
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.
An individual shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both, if the individual—
(1) knowing the information to be false, willfully and maliciously or with reckless disregard for the safety of human life, gives, or causes to be given, under circumstances in which the information reasonably may be believed, false information about an alleged attempt being made or to be made to do an act that would violate section 46502(a), 46504, 46505, or 46506 of this title; or
(2)(A) threatens to violate section 46502(a), 46504, 46505, or 46506 of this title, or causes a threat to violate any of those sections to be made; and
(B) has the apparent determination and will to carry out the threat.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
In this section, before clause (1), the words “fined under title 18” are substituted for “fined not more than $25,000” for consistency with title 18. In clauses (1) and (2), the words “a felony” are omitted as surplus. In clause (1), the words “gives, or causes to be given” are substituted for “imparts or conveys or causes to be imparted or conveyed” to eliminate unnecessary words. The words “attempt or” are omitted as surplus. In clause (2), the words “threatens . . . or causes a threat . . . to be made” are substituted for “imparts or conveys or causes to be imparted or conveyed any threat” to eliminate unnecessary words.