Laws: Cases and Codes : U.S. Code : Title 7 : Section 13


   
U.S. Code as of: 01/03/05
Section 13. Violations generally; punishment; costs of prosecution

    (a) Felonies generally
      It shall be a felony punishable by a fine of not more than
    $1,000,000 (or $500,000 in the case of a person who is an
    individual) or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both,
    together with the costs of prosecution, for:
        (1) Any person registered or required to be registered under
      this chapter, or any employee or agent thereof, to embezzle,
      steal, purloin, or with criminal intent convert to such person's
      use or to the use of another, any money, securities, or property
      having a value in excess of $100, which was received by such
      person or any employee or agent thereof to margin, guarantee, or
      secure the trades or contracts of any customer or accruing to
      such customer as a result of such trades or contracts or which
      otherwise was received from any customer, client, or pool
      participant in connection with the business of such person. The
      word "value" as used in this paragraph means face, par, or market
      value, or cost price, either wholesale or retail, whichever is
      greater.
        (2) Any person to manipulate or attempt to manipulate the price
      of any commodity in interstate commerce, or for future delivery
      on or subject to the rules of any registered entity, or to corner
      or attempt to corner any such commodity or knowingly to deliver
      or cause to be delivered for transmission through the mails or
      interstate commerce by telegraph, telephone, wireless, or other
      means of communication false or misleading or knowingly
      inaccurate reports concerning crop or market information or
      conditions that affect or tend to affect the price of any
      commodity in interstate commerce, or knowingly to violate the
      provisions of section 6, section 6b, subsections (a) through (e)
      of subsection (!1) 6c, section 6h, section 6o(1), or section 23
      of this title.

        (3) Any person knowingly to make, or cause to be made, any
      statement in any application, report, or document required to be
      filed under this chapter or any rule or regulation thereunder or
      any undertaking contained in a registration statement required
      under this chapter, or by any registered entity or registered
      futures association in connection with an application for
      membership or participation therein or to become associated with
      a member thereof, which statement was false or misleading with
      respect to any material fact, or knowingly to omit any material
      fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the
      statements therein not misleading.
        (4) Any person willfully to falsify, conceal, or cover up by
      any trick, scheme, or artifice a material fact, make any false,
      fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations, or make
      or use any false writing or document knowing the same to contain
      any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry to a
      registered entity, board of trade, or futures association
      designated or registered under this chapter acting in furtherance
      of its official duties under this chapter.
        (5) Any person willfully to violate any other provision of this
      chapter, or any rule or regulation thereunder, the violation of
      which is made unlawful or the observance of which is required
      under the terms of this chapter, but no person shall be subject
      to imprisonment under this paragraph for the violation of any
      rule or regulation if such person proves that he had no knowledge
      of such rule or regulation.
    (b) Suspension of convicted felons
      Any person convicted of a felony under this section shall be
    suspended from registration under this chapter and shall be denied
    registration or reregistration for five years or such longer period
    as the Commission may determine, and barred from using, or
    participating in any manner in, any market regulated by the
    Commission for five years or such longer period as the Commission
    shall determine, on such terms and conditions as the Commission may
    prescribe, unless the Commission determines that the imposition of
    such suspension, denial of registration or reregistration, or
    market bar is not required to protect the public interest. The
    Commission may upon petition later review such disqualification and
    market bar and for good cause shown reduce the period thereof.
    (c) Transactions by Commissioners and Commission employees
      prohibited
      It shall be a felony punishable by a fine of not more than
    $500,000 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both,
    together with the costs of prosecution, for any Commissioner of the
    Commission or any employee or agent thereof, to participate,
    directly or indirectly, in any transaction in commodity futures or
    any transaction of the character of or which is commonly known to
    the trade as an "option", "privilege", "indemnity", "bid", "offer",
    "put", "call", "advance guaranty", or "decline guaranty", or any
    transaction for the delivery of any commodity under a standardized
    contract commonly known to the trade as a margin account, margin
    contract, leverage account, or leverage contract, or under any
    contract, account, arrangement, scheme, or device that the
    Commission determines serves the same function or functions as such
    a standardized contract, or is marketed or managed in substantially
    the same manner as such a standardized contract, or for any such
    person to participate, directly or indirectly, in any investment
    transaction in an actual commodity if nonpublic information is used
    in the investment transaction, if the investment transaction is
    prohibited by rule or regulation of the Commission, or if the
    investment transaction is effected by means of any instrument
    regulated by the Commission. The foregoing prohibitions shall not
    apply to any transaction or class of transactions that the
    Commission, by rule or regulation, has determined would not be
    contrary to the public interest or otherwise inconsistent with the
    purposes of this subsection.
    (d) Use of information by Commissioners and Commission employees
      prohibited
      It shall be a felony punishable by a fine of not more than
    $500,000 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both,
    together with the costs of prosecution - (1) for any Commissioner
    of the Commission or any employee or agent thereof who, by virtue
    of his employment or position, acquires information which may
    affect or tend to affect the price of any commodity futures or
    commodity and which information has not been made public to impart
    such information with intent to assist another person, directly or
    indirectly, to participate in any transaction in commodity futures,
    any transaction in an actual commodity, or in any transaction of
    the character of or which is commonly known to the trade as an
    "option", "privilege", "indemnity", "bid", "offer", "put", "call",
    "advance guaranty", or "decline guaranty", or in any transaction
    for the delivery of any commodity under a standardized contract
    commonly known to the trade as a margin account, margin contract,
    leverage account, or leverage contract, or under any contract,
    account, arrangement, scheme, or device that the Commission
    determines serves the same function or functions as such a
    standardized contract, or is marketed or managed in substantially
    the same manner as such a standardized contract; and (2) for any
    person to acquire such information from any Commissioner of the
    Commission or any employee or agent thereof and to use such
    information in any transaction in commodity futures, any
    transaction in an actual commodity, or in any transaction of the
    character of or which is commonly known to the trade as an
    "option", "privilege", "indemnity", "bid", "offer", "put", "call",
    "advance guaranty", or "decline guaranty", or in any transaction
    for the delivery of any commodity under a standardized contract
    commonly known to the trade as a margin account, margin contract,
    leverage account, or leverage contract, or under any contract,
    account, arrangement, scheme, or device that the Commission
    determines serves the same function or functions as such a
    standardized contract, or is marketed or managed in substantially
    the same manner as such a standardized contract.
    (e) Redesignated (d)
    (f) Insider trading prohibited
      It shall be a felony for any person - 
        (1) who is an employee, member of the governing board, or
      member of any committee of a board of trade, registered entity,
      or registered futures association, in violation of a regulation
      issued by the Commission, willfully and knowingly to trade for
      such person's own account, or for or on behalf of any other
      account, in contracts for future delivery or options thereon on
      the basis of, or willfully and knowingly to disclose for any
      purpose inconsistent with the performance of such person's
      official duties as an employee or member, any material nonpublic
      information obtained through special access related to the
      performance of such duties.(!2)

        (2) willfully and knowingly to trade for such person's own
      account, or for or on behalf of any other account, in contracts
      for future delivery or options thereon on the basis of any
      material nonpublic information that such person knows was
      obtained in violation of paragraph (1) from an employee, member
      of the governing board, or member of any committee of a board of
      trade, registered entity, or registered futures association.

    Such felony shall be punishable by a fine of not more than
    $500,000, plus the amount of any profits realized from such trading
    or disclosure made in violation of this subsection, or imprisonment
    for not more than five years, or both, together with the costs of
    prosecution.



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