FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS
IN THE SECOND DEGREE
Penal Law § 175.05
(Committed on or after November 1, 1986)
The (specify) count is Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree.
Under our law, a person is guilty of falsifying business records in the second degree when, with intent to defraud, he or she:
Select appropriate alternative:
makes or causes a false entry in the business records of an enterprise; or
alters, erases, obliterates, deletes, removes or destroys a true entry in the business records of an enterprise; or
omits to make a true entry in the business records of an enterprise in violation of a duty to do so which he or she knows to be imposed upon him or her by law or by the nature of his or her position; or
prevents the making of a true entry or causes the omission thereof in the business records of an enterprise.
The following terms used in that definition have a special meaning:
ENTERPRISE means any entity of one or more persons, corporate or otherwise, public or private, engaged in business, commercial, professional, industrial, eleemosynary, social, political or governmental activity. 1
BUSINESS RECORD means any writing or article,
1 Penal Law § 175.00(1).
including computer data or a computer program, kept or maintained by an enterprise for the purpose of evidencing or reflecting its condition or activity. 2
INTENT means conscious objective or purpose. Thus a person acts with intent to defraud when his or her conscious objective or purpose is to do so.3
In order for you to find the defendant guilty of this crime, the People are required to prove, from all of the evidence in the case, beyond a reasonable doubt, each of the following two elements:
1. That on or about (date) , in the county of (county) , the defendant, (defendant's name),
Select appropriate alternative:
made or caused a false entry in the business records
of an enterprise; or
altered, erased, obliterated, deleted, removed or destroyed a true entry in the business records of an enterprise; or
omitted to make a true entry in the business records of an enterprise in violation of a duty to do so which the defendant knew to be imposed upon him/her by law or by the nature of his/her position; or
prevented the making of a true entry or caused the omission thereof in the business records of an enterprise; and,
2. That
the defendant did so with intent to defraud.