(a)
Any violation of this chapter is a conspiracy against trade, and any person who engages in any such conspiracy or takes part therein, or aids or advises in its commission, or who as principal, manager, director, agent, servant or employee, or in any other capacity, knowingly carries out any of the stipulations, purposes, prices, rates, or furnishes any information to assist in carrying out such purposes, or orders thereunder or in pursuance thereof, is punishable, as follows:
(1)
If the violator is a corporation, by a fine of not more than one million dollars ($1,000,000) or the applicable amount under paragraph (3), whichever is greater.
(2)
If the violator is an individual, by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for one, two, or three years, by imprisonment for not more than one year in a county jail, by a fine of not more than the greater of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), a fine of the applicable amount under paragraph (3), or by both a fine and imprisonment.
(3)
If any person derives pecuniary gain from a violation of this chapter, or the violation results in pecuniary loss to a person other than the violator, the violator may be fined not more than an amount equal to the amount of the gross gain multiplied by two or an amount equal to the amount of the gross loss multiplied by two, whichever is applicable.
(b)
Any action pursuant to this section may be commenced at any time within four years
after the commission of the last act comprising a part of any violation. No cause of action barred under existing law on the effective date of the amendment of this section at the 1977–78 Regular Session of the Legislature shall be revived by such amendment.
(c)
Subject to Section 13521 of the Penal Code, all moneys received by any court in payment of any fine or civil penalty imposed pursuant to this section shall, as soon as practicable after receipt thereof, be deposited with the county treasurer of the county in which the court is situated. Amounts so deposited shall be paid as soon as practicable as follows: 100 percent to the Treasurer by warrant of the county auditor drawn upon the requisition of the clerk or judge of said court to be deposited in the State Treasury on order of the Controller if the moneys received resulted from an action initiated and prosecuted by the Attorney General. If the action was initiated and prosecuted by a
district attorney then 100 percent shall be paid as soon as practicable to the treasurer of the county in which the prosecution is conducted. If the action was initiated and prosecuted jointly by the Attorney General and a district attorney or jointly by more than one district attorney, such amounts shall be paid to the State Treasurer and to the treasurer(s) of the county or counties participating in the prosecution in a proportion agreed upon by the agencies jointly prosecuting such case and as approved by the court.