A false lien is document that purports to describe a

lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the pers ...

, but which has no legal basis, or which is based upon false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations. In the United States, the filing of false liens has been used as a tool of harassment and revenge in " paper terrorism", often against government officials.

Overview

When used maliciously, the filer falsely submits a lien against their target alleging that the target owes the filer some sum of money for services or goods not delivered. The lien is inexpensive and relatively easy to file but, for the target, requires significant time and lawyers fees to be dissolved by a court. The practice was pioneered by the

Posse Comitatus The ''posse comitatus'' (from Latin for "the ability to have a retinue or gang"), frequently shortened to posse, is in common law a group of people mobilized to suppress lawlessness, defend the people, or otherwise protect the place, property, ...

Example

In 1992, a resident of Seattle filed a false lien of against

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

(GE) for unpaid wages which he claimed GE had owed him for work performed but had "given away" to the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

without his permission. The wages had been garnished due to outstanding income taxes which he had refused to pay. He and his wife also filed false liens against President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

, US Senator Slade Gorton, the Attorney General of Washington, Jack Welch Jr. (the CEO of GE), four IRS agents and their spouses, and various other public officials and judges. They claimed the false liens against the public officials and IRS employees were justified because the latter had failed to help the plaintiffs and were not fulfilling their Oaths of Office. These false liens were only dissolved after years of legal battles which eventually resulted in the couple being barred from filing any further "nonconsensual lien or encumbrance" against federal employees.

Countermeasures

As a result, the U.S. Congress has criminalized the filing of false liens, and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines treat the filing of a false lien against a government official as equally serious as

threatening the government officials of the United States Threatening government officials is a felony in the United States, both physical threats and verbal threats are criminalized. Threatening the president is a separate felony. Cases will be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. and ...

. The Bureau of Prisons has responded by treating lien documents and personal information (such as

Social Security Number In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to United States nationality law, U.S. citizens, Permanent residence (United States), permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2 ...

s) of federal agents, judges, etc. as

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...

s. Various U.S. states have been developing ways of combating false liens.

References

Crimes Liens Fraud {{law-stub