# § 1141. Coercive interference
section 1201 of this title29 U.S.C. 301
It shall be unlawful for any person through the use of fraud, force, violence, or threat of the use of force or violence, to restrain, coerce, intimidate, or attempt to restrain, coerce, or intimidate any participant or beneficiary for the purpose of interfering with or preventing the exercise of any right to which he is or may become entitled under the plan, this subchapter, , or the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act [ et seq.]. Any person who willfully violates this section shall be fined $100,000 or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
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**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 93–406, title I, § 511, Sept. 2, 1974, 88 Stat. 895; Pub. L. 109–280, title VI, § 623(a), Aug. 17, 2006, 120 Stat. 979.)
## Editorial Notes
### References in Text
The Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act, referred to in text, is , , , which was classified generally to chapter 10 (§ 301 et seq.) of this title, and was repealed by , , (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), effective . Such section 111(a)(1) also provided that the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act should continue to apply to any conduct and events which occurred before (see ). For complete classification of the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act to the Code prior to such repeal, see Tables.
### Amendments
2006— substituted “$100,000” for “$10,000” and “10 years” for “one year”.
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Effective Date of 2006 Amendment
> “The amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to violations occurring on and after the date of the enactment of this Act [
>
> ].”
, , , provided that:
### Regulations
Secretary authorized, effective , to promulgate regulations wherever provisions of this subchapter call for the promulgation of regulations, see .