Art. 581-29. PENAL PROVISIONS    

Any person who shall:

A. Sell, offer for sale or delivery, solicit subscriptions or orders for, dispose of, invite offers for, or who shall deal in any other manner in any security or securities without being a registered dealer or agent as in this Act provided shall be deemed guilty of a felony of the third degree.

B. Sell, offer for sale or delivery, solicit subscriptions to and orders for, dispose of, invite orders for, or who shall deal in any other manner in any security or securities issued after September 6, 1955, unless said security or securities have been registered or granted a permit as provided in Section 7 of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a felony of the third degree.

C. In connection with the sale, offering for sale or delivery of, the purchase, offer to purchase, invitation of offers to purchase, invitations of offers to sell, or dealing in any other manner in any security or securities, whether or not the transaction or security is exempt under Section 5 or 6 of this Act, or in connection with the rendering of services as an investment adviser or an investment adviser representative, directly or indirectly:

(1) engage in any fraud or fraudulent practice;

(2) employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud;

(3) knowingly make any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they are made, not misleading; or

(4) engage in any act, practice or course of business which operates or will operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person, is:

(a) guilty of a felony of the third degree, if the amount involved in the offense is less than $10,000;

(b) guilty of a felony of the second degree, if the amount involved in the offense is $10,000 or more but less than $100,000; or

(c) guilty of a felony of the first degree, if the amount involved is $100,000 or more.

D. Knowingly violate a cease and desist order issued by the commissioner under the authority of Section 23A, 23B, or 23-2 of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a felony of the third degree.

E. Knowingly make or cause to be made, in any document filed with the commissioner or in any proceeding under this Act, whether or not such document or proceeding relates to a transaction or security exempt under the provisions of Sections 5 or 6 of this Act, any statement which is, at the time and in the light of the circumstances under which it is made, false or misleading in any material respect shall be deemed guilty of a felony of the third degree.

F. Knowingly make any false statement or representation concerning any registration made or exemption claimed under the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a state jail felony.

G. Make an offer of any security within this State that is not in compliance with the requirements governing offers set forth in Section 22 of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a state jail felony.

H. Knowingly make an offer of any security within this State prohibited by a cease publication order issued by the Commissioner under Section 23C of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a state jail felony.

I. Render services as an investment adviser or an investment adviser representative without being registered as required by this Act shall be deemed guilty of a felony of the third degree.

J. A conviction of an offense under this section may be enhanced as provided by Section 12.42, Penal Code.