Securities Exchange Act of 1934 - Antifraud Provisions

Antifraud Provisions

While the '33 Act contains an antifraud provision (Section 17), when the '34 Act was enacted, questions remained about the reach of that antifraud provision and whether a private right of action—that is, the right of an individual private citizen to sue an issuer of stock or related market actor, as opposed to government suits—existed for purchasers. As it developed, section 10(b) of the 1934 Act and corresponding SEC Rule 10b-5 have sweeping antifraud language. Section 10(b) of the Act (as amended) provides (in pertinent part):

It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by the use of any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce or of the mails, or of any facility of any national securities exchange

(b) To use or employ, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security registered on a national securities exchange or any security not so registered, or any securities-based swap agreement (as defined in section 206B of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act), any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance in contravention of such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors.

Section 10(b) is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b).

The breadth and utility of section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 in the pursuit of securities litigation are significant. Rule 10b-5 has been employed to cover insider trading cases, but has also been used against companies for price fixing (artificially inflating or depressing stock prices through stock manipulation), bogus company sales to increase stock price, and even a company's failure to communicate relevant information to investors. Many plaintiffs in the securities litigation field plead violations of section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 as a "catch-all" allegation, in addition to violations of the more specific antifraud provisions in the '34 Act.