PUBLIC LAW 108–275—JULY 15, 2004 118 STAT. 831

Public Law 108–275

108th Congress

An Act

To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish penalties for aggravated identity

theft, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act’’.

SEC. 2. AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code,

is amended by adding after section 1028, the following:

‘‘§ 1028A. Aggravated identity theft

‘‘(a) OFFENSES.—

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whoever, during and in relation to any

felony violation enumerated in subsection (c), knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means

of identification of another person shall, in addition to the

punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term

of imprisonment of 2 years.

‘‘(2) TERRORISM OFFENSE.—Whoever, during and in relation

to any felony violation enumerated in section 2332b(g)(5)(B),

knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful

authority, a means of identification of another person or a

false identification document shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 5 years.

‘‘(b) CONSECUTIVE SENTENCE.—Notwithstanding any other

provision of law—

‘‘(1) a court shall not place on probation any person convicted of a violation of this section;

‘‘(2) except as provided in paragraph (4), no term of imprisonment imposed on a person under this section shall run

concurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed

on the person under any other provision of law, including

any term of imprisonment imposed for the felony during which

the means of identification was transferred, possessed, or used;

‘‘(3) in determining any term of imprisonment to be imposed

for the felony during which the means of identification was

transferred, possessed, or used, a court shall not in any way

reduce the term to be imposed for such crime so as to compensate for, or otherwise take into account, any separate term

Identity Theft

Penalty

Enhancement

Act.

18 USC 1001

note.

July 15, 2004

[H.R. 1731]

118 STAT. 832 PUBLIC LAW 108–275—JULY 15, 2004

of imprisonment imposed or to be imposed for a violation of

this section; and

‘‘(4) a term of imprisonment imposed on a person for a

violation of this section may, in the discretion of the court,

run concurrently, in whole or in part, only with another term

of imprisonment that is imposed by the court at the same

time on that person for an additional violation of this section,

provided that such discretion shall be exercised in accordance

with any applicable guidelines and policy statements issued

by the Sentencing Commission pursuant to section 994 of title

28.

‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘felony

violation enumerated in subsection (c)’ means any offense that

is a felony violation of—

‘‘(1) section 641 (relating to theft of public money, property,

or rewards), section 656 (relating to theft, embezzlement, or

misapplication by bank officer or employee), or section 664

(relating to theft from employee benefit plans);

‘‘(2) section 911 (relating to false personation of citizenship);

‘‘(3) section 922(a)(6) (relating to false statements in connection with the acquisition of a firearm);

‘‘(4) any provision contained in this chapter (relating to

fraud and false statements), other than this section or section

1028(a)(7);

‘‘(5) any provision contained in chapter 63 (relating to

mail, bank, and wire fraud);

‘‘(6) any provision contained in chapter 69 (relating to

nationality and citizenship);

‘‘(7) any provision contained in chapter 75 (relating to

passports and visas);

‘‘(8) section 523 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C.

6823) (relating to obtaining customer information by false pretenses);

‘‘(9) section 243 or 266 of the Immigration and Nationality

Act (8 U.S.C. 1253 and 1306) (relating to willfully failing to

leave the United States after deportation and creating a

counterfeit alien registration card);

‘‘(10) any provision contained in chapter 8 of title II of

the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1321 et seq.)

(relating to various immigration offenses); or

‘‘(11) section 208, 811, 1107(b), 1128B(a), or 1632 of the

Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 408, 1011, 1307(b), 1320a–7b(a),

and 1383a) (relating to false statements relating to programs

under the Act).’’.

(b) AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER ANALYSIS.—The table of sections

for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by

inserting after the item relating to section 1028 the following new

item:

‘‘1028A. Aggravated identity theft.’’.

(c) APPLICATION OF DEFINITIONS FROM SECTION 1028.—Section

1028(d) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting

‘‘and section 1028A’’ after ‘‘In this section’’.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO EXISTING IDENTITY THEFT PROHIBITION.

Section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)(7)—

PUBLIC LAW 108–275—JULY 15, 2004 118 STAT. 833

(A) by striking ‘‘transfers’’ and inserting ‘‘transfers,

possesses,’’; and

(B) by striking ‘‘abet,’’ and inserting ‘‘abet, or in connection with,’’;

(2) in subsection (b)(1)(D), by striking ‘‘transfer’’ and

inserting ‘‘transfer, possession,’’;

(3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘three years’’ and

inserting ‘‘5 years’’; and

(4) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting after ‘‘facilitate’’ the

following: ‘‘an act of domestic terrorism (as defined under section 2331(5) of this title) or’’.

SEC. 4. AGGREGATION OF VALUE FOR PURPOSES OF SECTION 641.

The penultimate paragraph of section 641 of title 18 of the

United States Code is amended by inserting ‘‘in the aggregate,

combining amounts from all the counts for which the defendant

is convicted in a single case,’’ after ‘‘value of such property’’ .

SEC. 5. DIRECTIVE TO THE UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to its authority under section 994(p)

of title 28, United States Code, and in accordance with this section,

the United States Sentencing Commission shall review and amend

its guidelines and its policy statements to ensure that the guideline

offense levels and enhancements appropriately punish identity theft

offenses involving an abuse of position.

(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out this section, the United

States Sentencing Commission shall do the following:

(1) Amend U.S.S.G. section 3B1.3 (Abuse of Position of

Trust of Use of Special Skill) to apply to and punish offenses

in which the defendant exceeds or abuses the authority of

his or her position in order to obtain unlawfully or use without

authority any means of identification, as defined section

1028(d)(4) of title 18, United States Code.

(2) Ensure reasonable consistency with other relevant directives, other sentencing guidelines, and statutory provisions.

(3) Make any necessary and conforming changes to the

sentencing guidelines.

(4) Ensure that the guidelines adequately meet the purposes of sentencing set forth in section 3553(a)(2) of title 18,

United States Code.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

In addition to any other sums authorized to be appropriated

for this purpose, there is authorized to be appropriated to the

Department of Justice, for the investigation and prosecution of

28 USC 994 note.

118 STAT. 834 PUBLIC LAW 108–275—JULY 15, 2004

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 1731 (S. 153):

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 108–528 (Comm. on the Judiciary).

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 150 (2004):

June 23, considered and passed House.

June 25, considered and passed Senate.

WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 40 (2004):

July 15, Presidential remarks.

Æ

identity theft and related credit card and other fraud cases constituting felony violations of law, $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2005

and $2,000,000 for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

Approved July 15, 2004.