Rhode Island § 11-19-39 - Gambling and Lotteries

§ 11-19-39. Enforcement and penalties.

(a) If any charitable organization fails to file any registration application or statement, report, or other information required to be filed by the department under this chapter, or otherwise violates the provisions of this chapter, the department shall notify the delinquent charitable organization, by mailing a notice, certified mail, with return receipt requested, to its last known address. If the required registration application or statement, annual report, or other information is not filed or if the existing violation is not discontinued within ten (10) days after the formal notification or receipt of the notice, the department may cancel, suspend the registration, or refuse to accept a delinquent report from the charitable organization.

(b) The department, upon its own motion or upon complaint of any person, may, if it has reasonable ground to suspect a violation, investigate any charitable organization, to determine whether it has violated the provisions of this chapter or has filed any application or other information required under this chapter which contains false or misleading statements. If the department finds that any application or other information contains false or misleading statements, or that a registrant under this chapter has violated its provisions, the registration may be suspended or cancelled. Any person whose registration is suspended or cancelled may, within fifteen (15) days from the date of written notification of the suspension or cancellation request in writing, a hearing before the department. This hearing shall be held within thirty (30) days from the date of the request. Any person who has exhausted all administrative remedies available within the department in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act (chapter 35 of title 42), and who is aggrieved by a final decision of the department, is entitled to judicial review in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act (chapter 35 of title 42).

(c) The certificate of approval of any charitable organization which knowingly makes a false or misleading statement in any registration application or statement, report, or other information required to be filed by the department or this chapter shall be revoked.

(d) Any person who willfully and knowingly violates any provisions of this chapter, or who shall willfully and knowingly give false or incorrect information to the department in filing statements or reports required by this chapter, whether the report or statement is verified or not, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Upon conviction, that person shall be sentenced for the first offense to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or undergo imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. For the second and any subsequent offense, that person shall pay a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or undergo imprisonment for not more than five (5) years, or both.

(e) Whenever the attorney general shall have reason to believe or the attorney general has been advised by the director (who shall have given due notice and full hearing to the charitable organization) that the charitable organization: (1) is operating in violation of the provision of this chapter; (2) has knowingly and willfully made any false statements in any initial or any renewal application or in any other information required to be filed by this chapter; (3) has failed to file a registration statement required by this chapter; (4) there is employed or is about to be employed by a charitable organization any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud or to obtain money or property by means of any false pretense, representation, or promise; (5) the officers or representatives of any charitable organization failed after notice to produce any records of the organization; or (6) the funds raised by the game are not devoted or will not be devoted to the charitable purposes of the charitable organization; in addition to all other actions authorized by law, the attorney general of the state of Rhode Island may bring an action in the name of the state of Rhode Island against the charitable organization and its officers, or any other person who has violated this chapter to enjoin that charitable organization or person from continuing the violation or doing any acts in furtherance of it, and for any other relief that the court deems appropriate. The court may make any additional orders and/or judgments that may be necessary to restore to any person in interest any monies or property, real or personal, which may have been acquired by means of any practice in this chapter declared to be unlawful. The department may refuse to grant an initial application to conduct a game, may refuse to renew an application, and may revoke a registration of any charitable organization which knowingly makes a false statement in any initial registration application or renewal application or statement, annual report, or other information required to be filed by the department or the chapter.