§489. Civil remedies and penalties

(a) Immunity of officers or employees of Government

Where any property is transferred or disposed of in accordance with this Act and any regulations prescribed hereunder, no officer or employee of the Government shall (1) be liable with respect to such transfer or disposition except for his own fraud, or (2) be accountable for the collection of any purchase price for such property which is determined to be uncollectible by the Federal agency responsible therefor.

(b) Fraudulent tricks, schemes, or devices

Every person who shall use or engage in, or cause to be used or engaged in, or enter into an agreement, combination, or conspiracy to use or engage in or to cause to be used or engaged in, any fraudulent trick, scheme, or device, for the purpose of securing or obtaining, or aiding to secure or obtain, for any person any payment, property, or other benefits from the United States or any Federal agency in connection with the procurement, transfer or disposition of property hereunder-

(1) shall pay to the United States the sum of $2,000 for each such act, and double the amount of any damage which the United States may have sustained by reason thereof, together with the cost of suit; or

(2) shall, if the United States shall so elect, pay to the United States, as liquidated damages, a sum equal to twice the consideration agreed to be given by the United States or any Federal agency to such person or by such person to the United States or any Federal agency, as the case may be; or

(3) shall, if the United States shall so elect, restore to the United States the money or property thus secured and obtained and the United States shall retain as liquidated damages any property, money, or other consideration given to the United States or any Federal agency for such money or property, as the case may be.

(c) Jurisdiction and venue

The several district courts of the United States and the several district courts of the Territories and possessions of the United States, within whose jurisdictional limits the person, or persons, doing or committing such act, or any one of them, resides or shall be found, shall wheresoever such act may have been done or committed, have full power and jurisdiction to hear, try, and determine such suit, and such person or persons as are not inhabitants of or found within the district in which suit is brought may be brought in by order of the court to be served personally or by publication or in such other reasonable manner as the court may direct.

(d) Additional remedies

The civil remedies provided in this section shall be in addition to all other criminal penalties and civil remedies provided by law.

(June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title II, §209, 63 Stat. 392 .)

References in Text

This Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act June 30, 1949, ch. 288, 63 Stat. 378 , as amended, known as the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949. Provisions of that Act relating to management and disposal of government property are classified to this chapter. For complete classification of that Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 471 of this title and Tables.

Codification

As originally enacted, subsec. (c) contained a reference to "the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia" following "the several district courts of the United States". The words "the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia" have been deleted entirely as superfluous in view of section 132(a) of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, which states that "There shall be in each judicial district a district court which shall be a court of record known as the United States District Court for the district" and section 88 of Title 28 which states that "the District of Columbia constitutes one judicial district".

Section was formerly classified to section 239 of Title 41, Public Contracts.