Criminal usury in the first degree · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 190.42 Criminal usury in the first degree.
A person is guilty of criminal usury in the first degree when, not being authorized or permitted by law to do so, he knowingly charges, takes or receives any money or other property as interest on the loan or forbearance of any money or other property, at a rate exceeding twenty-five per centum per annum or the equivalent rate for a longer or shorter period and either the actor had previously been convicted of the crime of criminal usury or of the attempt to commit such crime, or the actor's conduct was part of a scheme or business of making or collecting usurious loans.
Criminal usury in the first degree is a class C felony.
An unauthorized lender commits first-degree criminal usury by knowingly charging, taking, or receiving interest above 25% per year or its equivalent and either having been previously convicted of criminal usury or of attempted criminal usury, or acting as part of a scheme or business of making or collecting usurious loans. ★ It is a class C felony.
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.
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.