Section 43-17-12. Prohibited acts

   (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision of this chapter or any rule, regulation, subpoena, or order promulgated or issued by the Secretary of State under this chapter.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person who is registered as, or making application for registration as, a solicitor agent or paid solicitor or charitable organization or is an affiliate of such registrant or applicant knowingly to make or cause to be made to the Secretary of State or anyone acting on his or her behalf any written or oral statement or statements which the person knows to contain any untrue statement of material fact or to omit to state a material fact that is necessary in order to make any statement or statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.

(c) It shall be unlawful for any person in connection with the planning, conduct, or execution of any charitable solicitation or charitable sales promotion, directly or indirectly:

   (1) To utilize any representation that implies the contribution is for or on behalf of a charitable organization or to utilize any emblem, device, or printed matter belonging to or associated with a charitable organization, without first being authorized in writing to do so by the charitable organization;

   (2) To utilize a name, symbol, or statement so closely related or similar to that used by another charitable organization that the use thereof would tend to confuse or mislead a solicited person;

   (3) To misrepresent to or mislead anyone in any manner to believe that any other person sponsors, endorses, or approves such solicitation or charitable sales promotion when such other person has not given consent in writing to the use of his or her name for these purposes;

   (4) To utilize or exploit the fact of registration so as to lead any person to believe that such registration in any manner constitutes an endorsement or approval by the state;

   (5) To represent directly or by implication that a charitable organization will receive a fixed or estimated percentage of the gross revenue from a solicitation campaign greater than that identified in filings with the Secretary of State pursuant to this chapter;

   (6) To represent that tickets to events will be donated for use by another, unless the paid solicitor shall have commitments, in writing, from charitable organizations stating that they will accept donated tickets and specifying the number of tickets they are willing to accept;

   (7) To represent that any part of the contributions received will be given or donated to any other charitable organization unless such organization has consented in writing to the use of its name prior to the solicitation; or

   (8) To fail to provide to a person who has been solicited for a contribution the information described in Code Section 43-17-8.

(d) It shall be unlawful for any person in connection with the planning, conduct, or execution of any charitable solicitation or charitable sales promotion, directly or indirectly:

   (1) To employ a device, scheme, or artifice to defraud;

   (2) To engage in an act, practice, or course of business that operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon a person;

   (3) To misrepresent or mislead anyone in any manner to believe that the person on whose behalf a solicitation or charitable sales promotion is being conducted is a charitable organization or that the proceeds of such solicitation or charitable sales promotion will be used for charitable purposes if such is not the fact; or

   (4) To misappropriate, convert, illegally withhold, or fail to account for any charitable contributions solicited by, or on behalf of, any charitable organization required to be registered pursuant to this chapter.

(e) It shall be unlawful for any paid solicitor to have physical possession or legal control of a contribution collected by it in or from this state on behalf of any charitable organization without having complied with the requirements of paragraph (3) or (6) of subsection (c) of Code Section 43-17-3, as applicable, and Code Section 43-17-4.

Code 1981, § 43-17-12, enacted by Ga. L. 1988, p. 490, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1261, § 5; Ga. L. 2000, p. 136, § 43; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1657, § 10; Ga. L. 2008, p. 683, § 8/HB 1104.