Penal Law § 170.45

Criminal simulation · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 170.45 Criminal simulation.

A person is guilty of criminal simulation when:

1. With intent to defraud, he makes or alters any object in such manner that it appears to have an antiquity, rarity, source or authorship which it does not in fact possess; or

2. With knowledge of its true character and with intent to defraud, he utters or possesses an object so simulated.

Criminal simulation is a class A misdemeanor.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/170.45

In plain English

A person commits criminal simulation by:

(1) intending to defraud and making or altering an object to appear to have an antiquity, rarity, source, or authorship it does not have; or
(2) knowing the object’s true character, intending to defraud, and uttering or possessing the simulated object. ★

It is a class A misdemeanor.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.