N.Y. General Business Law § 352-c: Prohibited acts constituting misdemeanor; felony

§ 352-c. Prohibited acts constituting misdemeanor; felony. 1. It

shall be illegal and prohibited for any person, partnership,

corporation, company, trust or association, or any agent or employee

thereof, to use or employ any of the following acts or practices:

(a) Any fraud, deception, concealment, suppression, false pretense or

fictitious or pretended purchase or sale;

(b) Any promise or representation as to the future which is beyond

reasonable expectation or unwarranted by existing circumstances;

(c) Any representation or statement which is false, where the person

who made such representation or statement: (i) knew the truth; or (ii)

with reasonable effort could have known the truth; or (iii) made no

reasonable effort to ascertain the truth; or (iv) did not have knowledge

concerning the representation or statement made;

where engaged in to induce or promote the issuance, distribution,

exchange, sale, negotiation or purchase within or from this state of any

securities or commodities, as defined in section three hundred fifty-two

of this article, regardless of whether issuance, distribution, exchange,

sale, negotiation or purchase resulted.

2. It shall be illegal and prohibited for any person, partnership,

corporation, company, trust or association, or any agent or employee

thereof, to engage in any artifice, agreement, device or scheme to

obtain money, profit or property by any of the means prohibited by this

section.

3. It shall be illegal and prohibited for any person, partnership,

corporation, company, trust or association, or any agent or employee

thereof, engaged in the sale of any securities or commodities, as

defined in section three hundred fifty-two of this article, within or

from the state of New York to represent that they are an "exchange" or

use the word "exchange," or any abbreviation or derivative thereof, in

its name or assumed name unless it is registered with the Securities and

Exchange Commission as a national securities exchange, pursuant to

section six of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, or unless it has

been designated as a contract market by the Commodity Futures Trading

Commission, pursuant to section five of the Commodity Exchange Act.

4. Except as provided in subdivision five or six, a person,

partnership, corporation, company, trust or association, or any agent or

employee thereof, using or employing any act or practice declared to be

illegal and prohibited by this section, shall be guilty of a

misdemeanor.

5. Any person, partnership, corporation, company, trust or

association, or any agent or employee thereof who intentionally engages

in any scheme constituting a systematic ongoing course of conduct with

intent to defraud ten or more persons or to obtain property from ten or

more persons by false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or

promises, and so obtains property from one or more of such persons while

engaged in inducing or promoting the issuance, distribution, exchange,

sale, negotiation or purchase of any securities or commodities, as

defined in this article, shall be guilty of a class E felony.

6. Any person, partnership, corporation, company, trust or

association, or any agent or employee thereof who intentionally engages

in fraud, deception, concealment, suppression, false pretense or

fictitious or pretended purchase or sale, or who makes any material

false representation or statement with intent to deceive or defraud,

while engaged in inducing or promoting the issuance, distribution,

exchange, sale, negotiation or purchase within or from this state of any

securities or commodities, as defined in this article, and thereby

wrongfully obtains property of a value in excess of two hundred fifty

dollars, shall be guilty of a class E felony.