---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 56104"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "56104"
heading: "Penalty for false statements"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/56104"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Merchant Marine"
  - "Part E — Control of Merchant Marine Capabilities"
  - "Chapter 561 — Restrictions on Transfers"
---

# §56104. Penalty for false statements


A [person](/usc/46/53101.md?p=6) that knowingly makes a false statement of a material fact to the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8) of Transportation or another officer, employee, or agent of the Department of Transportation, to obtain the [Secretary](/usc/46/53101.md?p=8)’s approval under section [56101](/usc/46/56101.md) or [56102](/usc/46/56102.md) of this title, shall be fined under [title 18](/usc/18.md), imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 109–304, § 8(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1654.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 56104 | 46 App.:839 (last par.). | Sept. 7, 1916, ch. 451, § 41 (last par.), as added July 15, 1918, ch. 152, § 4, 40 Stat. 903; Exec. Order No. 6166, June 10, 1933, § 12; June 29, 1936, ch. 858, title II, § 204, title IX, § 904, 49 Stat. 1987, 2016; Pub. L. 97–31, § 12(32), Aug. 6, 1981, 95 Stat. 156. |

The words “guilty of a misdemeanor” are omitted, and the words “fined under title 18” are substituted for “subject to a fine of not more than $5000”, because of chapter 227 of title 18.