When the FBI Comes Calling…®
COUNTERFEITING AND FORGERY
Counterfeiting is a very old crime and one that attracts much international attention. According to Interpol, "[c]ounterfeiting of money is one of the oldest crimes in history. At some periods of early history it was considered as high treason in many countries and in some it is even nowadays punishable by death." Interpol, Counterfeit Currency, available here (last visited June 6, 2005). Counterfeiting of currency "has been substantially curtailed since the establishment of special law enforcement units taking care of the fight against counterfeiting," but the crime "continues to represent a potential danger to a country's economy and a source of financial loss to its citizens." Id.
18 U.S.C. § 470 (2005).
This section makes it clear that a person outside the United States
- who engages in the act of--
- making, dealing, or possessing any counterfeit obligation or other security of the United States; or
- making, dealing, or possessing any plate, stone, analog, digital, or electronic image, or other thing, or any part thereof, used to counterfeit such obligation or security,
- if such act would constitute a violation of sections 471, 473, or 474 if committed within the United States,
shall be punished as is provided for the like offense within the United States.
Case Law Interpreting Section 470.
Section 470, which clearly applies extraterritorially, has been mentioned in reported case law only thrice. In the earliest case, it was mentioned only to show that the maximum penalty under the counterfeiting laws is higher than some illicit drug penalties. United States v. Anderson, 72 F.3d 563, 565 (7th Cir. 1995). In the next case, the defendant actually committed the offense outside of the United States but she was charged with a violation of section 472 nonetheless. United States v. Hernandez, 325 F.3d 811, 813 (7th Cir. 2003). And in the most recent case, the government erroneously charged the defendant with a violation of section 470, and subsequently amended the complaint to clarify that it meant to charge a violation of section 472. United States v. Leftenant, 341 F.3d 338, 341 (4th Cir. 2003).