## Facts

- Jean Philomena Pizzarusso, a Canadian citizen, executed an immigrant visa application under oath at the U.S. Consulate in Montreal on March 4, 1965.
- The application contained multiple false statements material to visa eligibility, including misrepresentations about residences, time spent in the United States, and prior arrests.
- She was indicted in the Southern District of New York under 18 U.S.C. § 1546 for knowingly making false statements under oath in a visa application.
- After being taken into custody in the Southern District of New York on April 18, 1966, she was convicted, given a one-year suspended sentence, and placed on two years’ probation.
- On appeal, she challenged only the district court’s jurisdiction to prosecute a foreign national for conduct occurring abroad; she did not contest the sufficiency of the evidence.

## Issues

1. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 1546 authorizes prosecution in a U.S. district court of a foreign citizen for materially false sworn statements made abroad to a U.S. consular official in a visa application.
2. Whether extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction is permissible where the charged conduct targets U.S. immigration administration and the control of entry into the United States.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed the conviction.
- The court held that § 1546 applies to false sworn statements made to U.S. consular officials outside U.S. territory.
- The offense was complete when the false statements were made in Montreal; subsequent entry into the United States was not an element of the crime.

## Legal Principles

- A federal criminal statute may be construed to apply extraterritorially when its purpose would be significantly impaired if limited to domestic conduct, particularly where the regulated activity commonly occurs abroad.
- Under the protective principle of international law, the United States may punish conduct abroad by foreign nationals when the conduct is directed at and threatens U.S. governmental functions, including the integrity of immigration and visa administration.
- For § 1546 false-statement offenses involving visa applications, jurisdiction does not depend on the defendant’s citizenship or on proof that the defendant entered the United States; the crime is complete upon the knowing, material false statement under oath to an authorized U.S. official.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit upheld federal jurisdiction to prosecute a Canadian citizen under 18 U.S.C. § 1546 for materially false sworn statements made at a U.S. consulate abroad, reasoning that the statute’s purpose and the protective principle support extraterritorial application and that the offense was complete where the false statements were made.


United States v. Pizzarusso, 388 F.2d 8 (2d Cir. 1968)