Rhode Island General Laws 5-61-5. Criminal penalties
Any person including, but not limited to, the seller, a salesperson, agent or representative of the seller, or an independent contractor, who willfully violates any provision of this chapter or who directly or indirectly employs any device, scheme, or artifice to deceive in connection with the offer or sale by any telephonic seller, or who willfully, directly, or indirectly, engages in any act, practice, or course of business that operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person in connection with a sale by any telephonic seller, upon conviction, shall be punished as follows:
(1) By a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each unlawful transaction;
(2) By imprisonment in the state prison for not more than one year; or
(3) By both fine and imprisonment specified in subsections (1) and (2).
History of Section.
P.L. 1987, ch. 227, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 456, § 1.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-61-5
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Person: includes an individual, firm, association, corporation, partnership, joint venture, or any other business entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-61-2
- Salesperson: means any individual employed, appointed, or authorized by a telephonic seller, whether referred to by the telephonic seller as an agent, representative, or independent contractor, who attempts to solicit or solicits a sale on behalf of the telephonic seller. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-61-2
- seller: means a person who, on his or her own behalf or through salespersons or through the use of an automatic-dialing-announcing device, causes a telephone solicitation, or attempted telephone solicitation, to occur that meets the criteria specified as follows:
(i) A telephone solicitation, or attempted telephone solicitation, where the telephonic seller initiates or engages in telephonic contact with a prospective purchaser and represents or implies one or more of the following:
(A) That a prospective purchaser who buys one or more items will also receive additional or other items, whether or not of the same type as purchased, without "further cost. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-61-2