Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act

Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein
on the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act
July 9, 2002

Washington, DC - The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information today convened a hearing on legislation sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Charles Grassley (R-IA), and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) that would increase penalties on identity theft crimes.

The legislation was developed in coordination with the Justice Department and would help law enforcement capture and prosecute serious identity thieves. Senator Feinstein and Attorney General John Ashcroft unveiled plans for this legislation at a Justice Department ceremony on May 22, 2002. The following is the prepared text of Senator Feinstein's statement:

"I introduced this legislation in May with Senators Kyl, Sessions and Grassley and in coordination with Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration. I welcome the Administration's firm support.

For me, combating identity theft has been a top priority and I have worked very closely in this committee with Senator Kyl both to crack down on identity thieves and make such crimes more difficult to commit. This legislation will make it easier for prosecutors to target those identity thieves who steal an identity for the purpose of committing other serious crimes, including murder and terrorism.

Identity theft is often a precursor to other serious crimes. Here are just a few examples.

Lofti Raissi, a 27-year old Algerian pilot from London who is believed to have trained four of the September 11^th suicide hijackers, was identified in British court papers as having used the Social Security number of Dorothy Hansen, a retired factory worker from Jersey City, N.J., who died in 1991.

The Justice Department recently prosecuted an Algerian national for stealing the identities of 21 members of a health club in Cambridge Massachusetts and subsequently transferring the identities to an individual convicted in the failed plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport in 1999.

An administrator of Kmart Corporation's stock option plan is being prosecuted for stealing the identity of a retired Kmart executive, and exercising 176,000 options in his name.

In another case, a Chicago man allegedly killed a homeless man to assume the victim's identity and avoid pending criminal charges for counterfeiting.

The stories go on and on, and it is these stories that make the legislation we are examining today so vital.

Let me take a few moments to outline what this bill would do. First, the bill would create a separate crime of 'aggravated identity theft' for any person who uses the identity of another person to commit certain serious, federal crimes.

Specifically, the legislation would provide for an additional two-year penalty for any individual convicted of committing one of the following serious federal crimes while using the identity of another person. This includes stealing another person's identity to:

illegally obtain citizenship in the United States;
obtain a passport or visa;
commit bank, wire or mail fraud, or steal from employee pension funds; and
commit a variety of other serious federal crimes, all of them felonies.

Second, the legislation would provide for an additional five-year penalty for any individual who uses the stolen identity of another person to commit any one of the enumerated federal terrorism crimes found in Title 18.

Third, this bill also strengthens the ability of law enforcement to go after identity thieves and prove their case by:

Allowing law enforcement to target individuals who possess the identity documents of another person with the intent to commit a crime. Current federal law prohibits the transfer or use of false identity documents, but does not specifically ban the possession of those documents with the intent to commit a crime; and

Increasing the maximum penalty for identity theft under current law from three years to five years.

Fourth, the bill clarifies that the current 25-year maximum sentence for identity theft in facilitation of international terrorism also applies to domestic terrorism.

Identity theft is a crime with severe consequences not only for the individual victims of identity theft, but for every consumer and every financial institution. Fraud losses at financial institutions are running well over one billion dollars annually. The average loss from just one instance of identity theft now ranges about $18,000. An individual victim may not be individually liable for stolen goods on their credit cards, but the time and effort required to regain one's identity can be quite debilitating.

On average, it takes a full year and a half to regain one's identity once it has been stolen. And finally, we must not underestimate the importance of stolen identity documents to a terrorist's ability to assimilate into American society.

Protecting a person's Social Security number and other aspects of an individual's identity can be as important to our homeland security as border patrol or airport screening."