Penal Law § 175.05

Falsifying business records in the second degree · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 175.05 Falsifying business records in the second degree.

A person is guilty of falsifying business records in the second degree when, with intent to defraud, he:

1. Makes or causes a false entry in the business records of an enterprise; or

2. Alters, erases, obliterates, deletes, removes or destroys a true entry in the business records of an enterprise; or

3. Omits to make a true entry in the business records of an enterprise in violation of a duty to do so which he knows to be imposed upon him by law or by the nature of his position; or

4. Prevents the making of a true entry or causes the omission thereof in the business records of an enterprise.

Falsifying business records in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/175.05

In plain English

A person commits second-degree falsifying business records, with intent to defraud, by:

(1) making or causing a false entry in an enterprise’s business records;
(2) altering, erasing, deleting, removing, or destroying a true entry;
(3) knowingly failing to make a true entry despite a legal or job-based duty; or
(4) preventing a true entry or causing its omission. ★

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.