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Fabio 76b8ec33a7 Legal corpus: the complete U.S. Code (59,740 sections, all 53 titles)
Ingested titles 12–51 and 54 from OLRC USLM XML @119-100 (the whole Code
now, uniform edition; Title 53 is reserved/empty). LegalText 11,221 ->
59,740; repo total 105,704 records. Deterministic (byte-identical rerun,
verified on Title 42's 8,356 sections); make check green. make
legal-us-code default now covers every title.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-06 10:51:44 -04:00

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---
type: "LegalText"
title: "18 U.S.C. § 153"
description: "Embezzlement against estate"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
chapter_number: "9"
chapter_name: "BANKRUPTCY"
section: "153"
citation: "18 U.S.C. § 153"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc18@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s153"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-18/usc18.xml"
source_hash: "e57c933c34ab1fbc3fe531c0cb843fb9782f3cc4eee49872de489f56e6e80b4b"
raw_snapshot_hash: "1a1bbbbdb59e376ada4eb7ad1056fd68d396679ee7ab59f0561af15006122708"
text_hash: "355969dc5c7b4ad56cedc7e7c7e2e1b6ed3630c85519d5e622c039d7cc6f8479"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---
# 18 U.S.C. § 153 - Embezzlement against estate
## Text
(a) Offense.— A person described in subsection (b) who knowingly and fraudulently appropriates to the persons own use, embezzles, spends, or transfers any property or secretes or destroys any document belonging to the estate of a debtor shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
(b) Person to Whom Section Applies.— A person described in this subsection is one who has access to property or documents belonging to an estate by virtue of the persons participation in the administration of the estate as a trustee, custodian, marshal, attorney, or other officer of the court or as an agent, employee, or other person engaged by such an officer to perform a service with respect to the estate.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 690; Pub. L. 95598, title III, § 314(a)(1), (d)(1), (2), Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2676, 2677; Pub. L. 103322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(K), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147; Pub. L. 103394, title III, § 312(a)(1)(A), Oct. 22, 1994, 108 Stat. 4139; Pub. L. 104294, title VI, § 601(a)(1), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3497.)
## Notes
Historical and Revision NotesBased on section 52(a) of title 11, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Bankruptcy (July 1, 1898, ch. 541, § 29a, 30 Stat. 554; May 27, 1926, ch. 406, § 11 (part), 44 Stat. 665; June 22, 1938, ch. 575, § 1 (part), 52 Stat. 855). Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Editorial Notes
Amendments1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104294 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”. 1994—Pub. L. 103394 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section read as follows: “Whoever knowingly and fraudulently appropriates to his own use, embezzles, spends, or transfers any property or secretes or destroys any document belonging to the estate of a debtor which came into his charge as trustee, custodian, marshal, or other officer of the court, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” Pub. L. 103322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”. 1978—Pub. L. 95598 struck out “, receiver” after “trustee” in section catchline and in text struck out “receiver,” before “custodian” and substituted “debtor” for “bankrupt”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 1994 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 103394 effective Oct. 22, 1994, and not applicable with respect to cases commenced under Title 11, Bankruptcy, before Oct. 22, 1994, see section 702 of Pub. L. 103394, set out as a note under section 101 of Title 11.
Effective Date of 1978 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 95598 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 402(a) of Pub. L. 95598, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 11, Bankruptcy.
Savings ProvisionAmendment by section 314 of Pub. L. 95598 not to affect the application of chapter 9 (§ 151 et seq.), chapter 96 (§ 1961 et seq.), or section 2516, 3057, or 3284 of this title to any act of any person (1) committed before Oct. 1, 1979, or (2) committed after Oct. 1, 1979, in connection with a case commenced before such date, see section 403(d) of Pub. L. 95598, set out as a note preceding section 101 of Title 11, Bankruptcy.