11th Cir. Pattern Jury Instr. (Criminal) O18.3

18 U.S.C. § 513(a)

It’s a Federal crime to possess any counterfeit or forged securities of an

organization with the intent to defraud.

The Defendant can be found guilty of this crime only if all the following

facts are proved beyond a reasonable doubt:

(1) the Defendant made, passed or attempted to pass, or possessed a

counterfeit or forged security;

(2) the counterfeit or forged security was of an organization; and

(3) the Defendant possessed the counterfeit or forged security with

intent to deceive another person, organization, or government.

The term “counterfeit” means a document that has been falsely made or

manufactured so as to appear to be a genuine security. To be counterfeit, the

fraudulent security does not have to appear to be a genuine security of an

organization that in fact exists, but rather, it must look so much like a genuine

security that it is calculated to deceive an honest, unsuspecting person who uses

ordinary observation and care.

The term “forged” means a document that purports to be genuine but has

been fraudulently altered, completed, signed, or endorsed.

An “organization” is a nongovernmental legal entity. It includes, but is not

limited to, a corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, joint- stock

company, foundation, institution, society, union, or any other association of

persons that operates in or the activities of which affect interstate or foreign

commerce.

The term “security” includes: a note, stock certificate, treasury-stock

certificate, bond, treasury bond, debenture, certificate of deposit, interest coupon,

bill, check, draft, warrant, debit instrument, money order, traveler’s check, letter of

credit, warehouse receipt, negotiable bill of lading, evidence of indebtedness,

certificate of interest in or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral -

trust certificate, certificate of interest in tangible or intangible property, instrument

evidencing ownership of goods, wares, merchandise, and blank forms for any of

the items meeting this definition.

To act with “intent to deceive” means to act with the specific intent to

deceive or cheat, usually for personal financial gain or to cause financial loss to

someone else. The Government does not have to prove that anyone was in fact

deceived.