§1623 False Declarations Before Grand Jury or Court

Summary

You must tell the truth when testifying or when giving a sworn written statement under federal law (including statements allowed under 28 U.S.C. 1746) in a United States court, a grand jury, or in proceedings connected to them. If you knowingly make a false statement that matters to the case, or use papers or recordings you know are false, you can be fined, jailed for up to 5 years, or both. If the false statement is in a case before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or its review court, jail time can be up to 10 years. This rule applies to conduct inside or outside the United States. A charge can allege you made two or more sworn statements that contradict each other without saying which one is false, as long as each statement was important and was made within the time allowed by the statute of limitations. If you admit during the same continuous proceeding that a sworn statement you made is false, you cannot be prosecuted for it if the admission came before the falsehood affected the case or before it was likely to be discovered. Conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the law does not require any specific number or type of witness or document to prove the offense.