Files
republic-os/legal/us/code/title-18/chapter-114/section-2344.md
T
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

50 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
Raw Blame History

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters
This file contains Unicode characters that might be confused with other characters. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.
---
type: "LegalText"
title: "18 U.S.C. § 2344"
description: "Penalties"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
chapter_number: "114"
chapter_name: "TRAFFICKING IN CONTRABAND CIGARETTES AND SMOKELESS TOBACCO"
section: "2344"
citation: "18 U.S.C. § 2344"
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/s2344"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-18/usc18.xml"
source_hash: "58431280306c6c499a8b3fc9e257166b92749bdc8bac04ddb48433088506d957"
raw_snapshot_hash: "1a1bbbbdb59e376ada4eb7ad1056fd68d396679ee7ab59f0561af15006122708"
text_hash: "cb83cec24a64ad41ecaacdff016c537d8260fe1966bd6b09fff1d0189e9850c9"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---
# 18 U.S.C. § 2344 - Penalties
## Text
(a) Whoever knowingly violates section 2342(a) of this title shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b) Whoever knowingly violates any rule or regulation promulgated under section 2343(a) or 2346 of this title or violates section 2342(b) of this title shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
(c) Any contraband cigarettes or contraband smokeless tobacco involved in any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture. The provisions of chapter 46 of title 18 relating to civil forfeitures shall extend to any seizure or civil forfeiture under this section. Any cigarettes or smokeless tobacco so seized and forfeited shall be either—
(1) destroyed and not resold; or
(2) used for undercover investigative operations for the detection and prosecution of crimes, and then destroyed and not resold.
(Added Pub. L. 95575, § 1, Nov. 2, 1978, 92 Stat. 2464; amended Pub. L. 99514, § 2, Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2095; Pub. L. 103322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(K), (S), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147, 2148; Pub. L. 109177, title I, § 121(b)(4), (d), Mar. 9, 2006, 120 Stat. 222, 223.)
## Notes
Editorial Notes
Amendments2006—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 109177 inserted “or contraband smokeless tobacco” after “contraband cigarettes”, substituted “seizure and forfeiture. The provisions of chapter 46 of title 18 relating to civil forfeitures shall extend to any seizure or civil forfeiture under this section. Any cigarettes or smokeless tobacco so seized and forfeited shall be either—” for “seizure and forfeiture, and all provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 relating to the seizure, forfeiture, and disposition of firearms, as defined in section 5845(a) of such Code, shall, so far as applicable, extend to seizures and forfeitures under the provisions of this chapter.”, and added pars. (1) and (2). 1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103322, § 330016(1)(S), substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $100,000”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103322, § 330016(1)(K), substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”. 1986—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 99514 substituted “Internal Revenue Code of 1986” for “Internal Revenue Code of 1954”.