Mutilation of national bank obligations
Official text prohibited actmental stateif conditionpenaltylegal term
Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
History: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 700 (PDF, 39 MB); Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(B), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2146 (PDF, 52 MB).)
Simplified explanation
It is a federal crime to cut, deface, glue together, punch holes in, or otherwise damage a bank note or similar debt paper issued by a national bank or the Federal Reserve, with the goal of making it unfit to be reissued.