PRIA Logo™
Title 18, Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-110

§514 Fictitious Obligations

Title 18 › PART I — CRIMES › CHAPTER 25 — COUNTERFEITING AND FORGERY › § 514

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Makes it a crime, punishable as a class B felony, for someone who is trying to cheat others to make, print, produce, sell, pass, offer, or keep in the United States any fake document or item that looks like a real security or other financial instrument issued by the United States, a foreign government, a State or political subdivision, or an organization. It is also a crime to use mail, phone, internet, or other interstate or foreign travel or communications to send or move those fake items to, from, or through the United States. Words that are defined in section 513(c) have the same meaning here. The United States Secret Service may investigate these crimes, along with any other agency that has that power.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §514

Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Whoever, with the intent to defraud—
(1)draws, prints, processes, produces, publishes, or otherwise makes, or attempts or causes the same, within the United States;
(2)passes, utters, presents, offers, brokers, issues, sells, or attempts or causes the same, or with like intent possesses, within the United States; or
(3)utilizes interstate or foreign commerce, including the use of the mails or wire, radio, or other electronic communication, to transmit, transport, ship, move, transfer, or attempts or causes the same, to, from, or through the United States,
any false or fictitious instrument, document, or other item appearing, representing, purporting, or contriving through scheme or artifice, to be an actual security or other financial instrument issued under the authority of the United States, a foreign government, a State or other political subdivision of the United States, or an organization, shall be guilty of a class B felony.
(b)For purposes of this section, any term used in this section that is defined in section 513(c) has the same meaning given such term in section 513(c).
(c)The United States Secret Service, in addition to any other agency having such authority, shall have authority to investigate offenses under this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification section 101(f) [title VI, § 648(b)(1)] and 2603(b)(1) of div. A of Pub. L. 104–208 added identical section 514.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Sept. 30, 1996, and to remain in effect for each fiscal year following Sept. 30, 1996, see section 101(f) [title VI, § 648(c)] of Pub. L. 104–208, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1996 Amendment note under section 474 of this title.

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of the functions, personnel, assets, and obligations of the United States Secret Service, including the functions of the Secretary of the Treasury relating thereto, to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see section 381, 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 514

Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110