[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1551 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1551

To amend section 20 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to allow for 
   a private civil action against a person that provides substantial 
                  assistance in violation of such Act.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 30, 2009

  Mr. Specter (for himself, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Kaufman) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend section 20 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to allow for 
   a private civil action against a person that provides substantial 
                  assistance in violation of such Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Liability for Aiding and Abetting 
Securities Violations Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. PRIVATE CIVIL ACTION FOR AIDING AND ABETTING.

    Section 20(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 
78t(e)) is amended--
            (1) in the subsection heading, by striking ``Prosecution 
        of'' and inserting ``Actions Against'';
            (2) by striking ``For purposes'' and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(1) Actions brought by commission.--For purposes'';
            (3) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by inserting ``or 
        recklessly'' after ``knowingly''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Private civil actions.--For purposes of any private 
        civil action implied under this title, any person that 
        knowingly or recklessly provides substantial assistance to 
        another person in violation of this title, or of any rule or 
        regulation issued under this title, shall be deemed to be in 
        violation of this title to the same extent as the person to 
        whom such assistance is provided.''.
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