
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 40USC489]

 
             TITLE 40--PUBLIC BUILDINGS, PROPERTY, AND WORKS
 
       CHAPTER 10--MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSAL OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
 
                   SUBCHAPTER II--PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
 
Sec. 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, Sec. 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.
