Real Property

ARTICLE 9-A
SUBDIVIDED LANDS
Section 337. Definitions.
337-a. Provisions governing sale or lease of subdivided lands.
337-b. Offering statement; contents; prohibitions.
337-c. Right to cancel.
338. Inspection power of department of state; unlawful
practices; penalties.
339. Filing fees.
339-a. Rules and regulations.
339-b. Powers of department.
339-c. Action by department of state.

S 337. Definitions. As used in this article: 1. The words "subdivided
lands" and "subdivision" mean vacant land or lands sold or leased on the
installment plan or offered for sale or lease on such plan and also
vacant land or lands situated outside the state of New York and sold or
leased or offered for sale or lease on the installment plan or upon any
and all other plans, terms and conditions of sale or lease.
2. The word "subdivider" shall include every person, partnership,
corporation, company or association who or which engages directly or
through an agent in the business of selling, leasing or offering for
sale or lease subdivided lands and subdivisions to the public in this
state.
3. The words "installment plan" mean any plan, arrangement or
agreement pursuant to the terms, covenants and conditions whereof the
proposed purchaser of vacant land or lands to be acquired amortizes the
purchase price by periodic payments and whereby the conveyance of title
to the purchaser of such vacant land or lands is deferred until such
time as all said periodic payments have been made and shall also include
the provision in a plan, arrangement or agreement or lease requiring a
consideration from the lessee in addition to the periodic payments as a
condition precedent to the conveyance of title to the lessee.
4. The words "a lease of land or lands on the installment plan" mean
and include a plan, arrangement or agreement whereunder the periodic
payments made are designated as rent and upon the completion of such
payments the lessee is entitled to a conveyance of title to the vacant
land or lands leased.
5. The words "fraudulent practice" or "fraudulent practices" mean any
device, scheme or artifice employed by a subdivider to defraud or obtain
money or property by means of any false pretense, representation or
promise, or that a subdivider makes or attempts to make fictitious or
pretended purchases, sales or leases of vacant land or lands to the
public in this state, or engages in or is about to engage in any
practice or transaction or course of business relating to the purchase,
sale or lease of vacant land or lands which is fraudulent or in
violation of law and which has operated or which would operate as a
fraud upon the purchaser, or that any owner or subdivider as
hereinbefore defined has sold or offered for sale or is attempting to
sell or is offering for sale any vacant land or lands in violation of
the provisions of this article.

S 337-a. Provisions governing sale or lease of subdivided lands. No
subdivider shall sell, lease, or offer for sale or lease to the public
within this state, as principal, broker or agent or otherwise,
subdivided vacant lands or any part thereof, unless and until such
subdivider shall have caused to be filed in the department of state (a)
an offering statement containing the information and data required by
section three hundred thirty-seven-b of this article, (b) such data and
information as the department may require as provided in section three
hundred thirty-nine-b of this article and (c) a statement subscribed by
the subdivider and affirmed by him as true under the penalties of
perjury, containing:
1. The name of such owner and subdivider,
2. The address of the principal office of such owner and subdivider,
wherever situated, and the address or addresses of the principal office
and all branch offices of the owner and subdivider within this state, if
any,
3. The name of the person, partnership, company, corporation or
association who or which acquired a legal or equitable title to the land
or lands for sale or lease and who or which will subdivide vacant land
or lands offered for sale or lease for the purpose of offering such
subdivided vacant lands or any part thereof to the general public,
4. If such owner and subdivider be an individual or individuals, a
statement of their respective connections during the preceding five
years with any person, partnership, corporation, company or association
engaged in the business of selling or leasing subdivided vacant lands,
and the description of the last project or projects in subdivided vacant
lands, the whole or any part of which have been sold or offered for sale
or lease by such owner and subdivider,
5. If such owner and subdivider be a partnership, the names, residence
and business addresses of the partners, including special or limited
partners, and of all other individuals participating as principals in
the profits of such business, specifying as to each the nature of his
relation to such business and giving with respect to each all of the
information required by subdivision four of this section to be given by
an owner and subdivider who is an individual,
6. If such owner and subdivider be other than an individual or
partnership, the name of the state or country where incorporated or
organized, and the names, residence and business addresses of its
principal officers, wherever located, and of its officers and branch
managers in this state, specifying as to each the nature of his relation
to such business, and giving with respect to each all of the information
required by subdivision four of this section to be given by an owner and
subdivider who is an individual,
7. A statement as to whether such owner and subdivider, or, if such
owner and subdivider be other than an individual, whether any partner,
principal, officer, director or branch manager thereof, has been
convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction in any state or country
of any criminal offense in connection with any transaction involving the
sale or offer for sale of subdivided lands, or has been enjoined or
restrained by order of any court of competent jurisdiction from selling
or offering for sale subdivided vacant lands in any state or country, or
continuing any practices in connection therewith,
8. The complete description of the land offered for subdivision or any
part thereof by lots, plots, blocks or sites, with or without streets,
together with maps certified to by a duly licensed land surveyor
accompanied by a certificate attached thereto showing the date of the
completion of the survey and of the making of the map and the name of
the subdivision for the purpose of identification of the subdivided
lands or any part thereof. Where subdivisions were surveyed and mapped
prior to March first, nineteen hundred thirty-six, a certified copy of
the map covering the property, on file in the office of the clerk of the
county wherein the property is located, shall be deemed compliance with
the provisions herein.
9. A search of the title to the land, accompanied by a certificate
either of an attorney and counselor at law duly licensed to practice in
the state of New York, or a certificate from a duly incorporated title
search company or the certificate of an attorney and counselor at law
duly licensed to practice in the state wherein the lands are situated
reciting in detail all of the liens, encumbrances and clouds upon the
title to such land, and which defects of title, if any, render the title
to such land unmarketable,
10. The provisions, covenants, terms and conditions upon which it is
the intention of the owner and subdivider to sell or lease such
subdivided land accompanied by proposed forms of contracts contemplated
for execution and delivery upon the consummation of sales or leases,
11. Such other and further data and information as the department of
state may, in its discretion, demand to be executed upon forms
prescribed by it for filing pursuant to the provisions of this article.

S 337-b. Offering statement; contents; prohibitions. 1. Contents. The
offering statement shall contain (a) the names, addresses, business
background of the subdivider, and if such subdivider is a partnership or
corporation, the names, addresses and business background of each of the
partners, officers and principal stockholders, the nature of their
fiduciary relationship and their financial relationship, past, present
and future, to the subdivider; (b) a duly certified financial statement
of the assets and liabilities of the subdivider, as of a date not more
than three months prior to the date of the filing, in such detail as the
department may require; (c) a description of the subdivision and each
unit or lot into which it has or will be divided, in such detail as the
department may require; (d) the material terms of any encumbrances,
liens and restrictions upon the subdivision and each such unit or lot;
(e) data and information concerning improvements, including streets,
water supply and sewerage disposal facilities, in existence on the
subdivision, and the estimated cost, date of completion and
responsibility for construction of improvements to be made which are
referred to in connection with the sale or lease or offering for sale or
lease of the subdivision or any unit or lot thereon; (f) each of the
terms and conditions under which each such unit or lot is offered for
sale; and (g) such additional data and information as the department may
require as being necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for
the protection of purchasers or lessees.
2. There may be omitted from any offering statement any of the
information required under subdivision one of this section which the
department may by rules and regulations designate as not being necessary
or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of
purchasers.
3. Limitations. No offer to sell or lease subdivided lands by means of
advertisements in periodicals or newspapers, or on television or radio,
or by motion picture or otherwise shall be made unless each such
advertisement contains reference to the fact that an offering statement
has been filed with the department and that a copy of such statement is
available, upon request, from the subdivider.
4. Except as provided in subdivision three of this section, no offer
of sale or lease of subdivided lands shall be made unless such offer is
accompanied by a copy of the current offering statement filed pursuant
to this article.
5. The first page of the offering statement and the face of all
advertising and literature employed in the sale or lease or offer for
sale or lease of subdivided lands shall contain a statement in easily
readable print, that the filing of the verified statement and offering
statement with the department of state does not constitute approval of
the sale or lease or offer for sale or lease by the department of state
or any officer thereof, or that the department of state has in any way
passed upon the merits of such offering.
6. No sale or lease of subdivided lands shall be made unless
accompanied or preceded by the delivery to the prospective purchaser of
an offering statement complying with the provisions of this section.
7. No change or amendment of an offering statement shall be made
unless a copy of such change or amendment has first been filed with the
department.
8. The subdivider, within thirty days after the anniversary date of
the filing of an offering statement, shall file with the department of
state a new current and up-to-date offering statement setting forth
therein all changes which have taken place during the preceding year
with respect to any and all data and information required to be set
forth in such offering statement. Only a current offering statement
shall be used to sell or lease or offer to sell or lease any of the
subdivided lands.
9. The offering statement shall include the following statement in
easily readable capital letters of not less than nine-point type: "THE
OFFEROR HAS FILED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS LAND OFFERING WITH THE
DEPARTMENT OF STATE PURSUANT TO SECTION 337-A OF THE REAL PROPERTY LAW.
THIS INFORMATION INCLUDES A DESCRIPTION AND MAPS OF THE PROPERTIES BEING
OFFERED; A CERTIFICATE STATING IN DETAIL ALL LIENS, ENCUMBRANCES OR
CLOUDS UPON THE TITLE TO THE LAND; AND STATEMENTS OF ANY PRIOR CRIMINAL
CONVICTIONS OF THE PRINCIPALS MAKING THIS OFFERING WHICH INVOLVED THE
SALE OR OFFERING FOR SALE OF SUBDIVIDED LANDS. INFORMATION FILED
PURSUANT TO SECTION 337-A OF THE REAL PROPERTY LAW IS AVAILABLE PURSUANT
TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AT THE
FOLLOWING ADDRESS: THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SUBDIVIDED LANDS SECTION,
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12231-0001."

S 337-c. Right to cancel. Every contract or agreement for the sale
or lease of subdivided lands shall expressly grant to the purchaser or
lessee the absolute right to cancel the contract or agreement within
seven days following the signing of the contract or agreement, by giving
the subdivider notice of cancellation at the address listed in the
offering statement filed by the subdivider, by registered or certified
mail return receipt requested. Within ten days of receipt of such a
notice of cancellation the subdivider shall return to the purchaser or
lessee all consideration paid or delivered on account of such contract
or agreement.

S 338. Inspection power of department of state; unlawful practices;
penalties. 1. The department of state may cause an investigation and an
inspection to be made of any subdivision of vacant land proposed to be
offered for sale or lease in this state pursuant to this article and may
make a report of its findings thereon.
2. Where an inspection is to be made of subdivided lands, situated
outside of the state of New York and being offered for sale in this
state, the statement required by section three hundred thirty-seven-a
shall be accompanied by the filing fee and in addition there shall be
remitted to the department of state an amount equivalent to the cost of
travel from New York to the location of the project and return, as
estimated by the department of state, and a further amount estimated to
be necessary to cover the additional expenses of such inspection, not to
exceed fifteen dollars a day, for each day consumed in the examination
of the project.
3. It shall be unlawful for the subdivider or his or its agent, to
change the financial structure of such offering after the submission
thereof to the department of state without first notifying the
department in writing of such intention.
4. Where the vacant lands to be subdivided shall be subject to a lien
or encumbrance securing or evidencing the payment of money other than
taxes or assessments levied by public authority, or where the interest
of the owner and subdivider or his or its agent be held under option or
contract of purchase or in trust, it shall be unlawful to sell any
vacant land in such subdivision unless provision in such lien,
encumbrance, option, contract or trust agreement, or in an agreement
supplementary thereto, enables the vendor to convey valid title to each
parcel so sold or leased free of such lien, encumbrance, option,
contract or trust agreement, upon completion of all payments and
performance of all the terms and conditions required to be made and
performed by the vendee under the agreement of sale. Where the
consideration price for the lot or lots sold has been amortized to an
extent that the balance due and owing thereunder equals in an amount
required to release such lot or lots from any existing lien,
encumbrance, tax, assessment, option contract or first agreement, and
the initial cost for said vacant land has not been paid for by the owner
or subdivider, that in such event all moneys thereafter received by the
owner or subdivider from the purchaser of said lot or lots shall be
segregated and kept in a separate account and be impressed with a trust
which shall be applied towards the clearance of title to the vacant land
thereafter intended to be conveyed to the purchaser. After default
shall have occurred in the payment of any tax or assessment levied and
assessed against the premises or after default shall have occurred under
and pursuant to the terms of any contract, mortgage lien, charge or
encumbrance, all moneys received by the owner or subdivider from the
purchaser of said lot or lots shall be segregated and kept in a separate
account and be impressed with a trust which shall be applied towards the
clearance of title to the vacant land thereafter intended to be conveyed
to the purchaser. Certified or verified copies of documents containing
such provisions shall be filed with the department of state prior to the
sale or lease or offer of sale or lease of any part of the subdivision.
5. (a) Every person, officer, director, agent or employee of a
company, partnership, association or corporation who or which knowingly
offers to sell or to lease, or sells or leases subdivided lands prior to
the filing of the offering statement and the verified statement required
by this article shall be guilty of a felony.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (a) hereof, every person,
officer, director, agent or employee of a company, partnership,
corporation, or association who or which knowingly authorizes, directs
or aids in the publication, advertisement, distribution or circulation
of any device, scheme or artifice for obtaining money or property by
means of any false pretense, representation or promise concerning any
vacant land or lands or subdivision thereof, offered for sale or lease,
and every person, officer, director, agent or employee of a company,
partnership, corporation or association who or which shall have made or
attempts to make in the state fictitious or pretended purchases or sales
of vacant lands, or who, in any other respect, wilfully violated or
fails to comply with any of the provisions of this article, or knowingly
omits or neglects to obey, observe or comply with any order, permit,
decision, demand or requirement of the department of state under the
provisions of this article, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, if a
licensee under article twelve (a) of this chapter, the department of
state also may revoke or suspend his license in the manner provided in
such article. The commission of a single act prohibited by this article
shall constitute a violation thereof. All courts of special sessions,
within their respective territorial jurisdiction, are hereby empowered
to hear, try, and determine such violations without indictment, and to
impose the punishments prescribed by law therefor.
6. It shall be the duty of the attorney-general to prosecute all
violations of the provisions of this article; such prosecutions may be
instituted upon the written request or demand of the department of
state. In all criminal proceedings, the attorney-general may appear in
person or by his deputy before any court of record or any grand jury and
exercise all the powers and perform all the duties in respect of such
actions or proceedings which the district attorney would otherwise be
authorized or required to exercise or perform; or the attorney-general
may in his discretion transmit evidence, proof and information as to
such offense to the district attorney of the county or counties in which
the alleged violation has occurred, and every district attorney to whom
such evidence, proof and information is so transmitted shall forthwith
proceed to prosecute any corporation, company, association, or officer,
manager or agent thereof, or any firm or person charged with such
violation. In any such proceeding, wherein the attorney-general has
appeared either in person or by deputy, the district attorney shall only
exercise such powers and perform such duties as are required of him by
the attorney-general or the deputy attorney-general so appearing. The
attorney-general shall, upon a conviction for a violation of any
provision of this article, and within ten days thereafter, make and file
with the department of state a detailed report showing the date of such
conviction, the name of the person convicted and the exact nature of the
charge.
7. Any false statement contained in any statement or supplemental
statement filed with the department of state pursuant to the
requirements of this article, or in any affidavit attached thereto,
shall constitute a violation of this article.
8. Any person, partnership, corporation, company or association
representing in any manner that the state, the department of state, or
any officer thereof has recommended or acquiesced in the recommendation
of the purchase of any subdivided lands offered for sale or lease, in
advertising or offering such subdivided lands for sale or lease, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one
thousand dollars, or imprisonment for not more than one year or by both
such fine and imprisonment.

S 339. Filing fees. Each filing made pursuant to section three hundred
thirty-seven-a of subdivided lands situated outside the state of New
York shall be accompanied by a filing fee of seven hundred fifty dollars
plus an additional fee of ten dollars for each lot to be offered in
excess of seventy-five lots.

S 339-a. Rules and regulations. The department of state shall have the
power to adopt from time to time or amend such rules and regulations as
it may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this article.

S 339-b. Powers of department. The department of state may also
require such other data and information as it may deem relevant and may
make such special and independent investigations as it may deem
necessary in connection with the administration of this article. The
department of state by its examiner or other officer designated by it is
empowered to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, examine them
under oath before him or a magistrate, a court of record or a judge or
justice thereof and require the production of any books or papers which
he deems relevant or material to the inquiry. Such power of subpoena and
examination shall not abate or terminate by reason of any action or
proceeding brought by the department of state under this article. The
provisions for payment of witness fee and/or mileage do not apply to any
officer, director or person in the employ of any person, partnership,
corporation, company, trust or association whose conduct or practices
are being investigated. A subpoena issued under this section shall be
regulated by the civil practice law and rules and, in addition, if a
person subpoenaed to attend such inquiry fails to obey the command of a
subpoena without reasonable cause, or if a person in attendance upon
such inquiry shall without reasonable cause refuse to be sworn or to be
examined or to answer a question or to produce a book or paper when
ordered so to do by the officer conducting such inquiry, or if a person,
partnership, corporation, company, trust or association fails to perform
any act required hereunder to be performed, he shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor. It shall be the duty of all public officers, their
deputies, assistants, subordinates, clerks or employees and all other
persons to render and furnish to the department of state, its examiner
or other designated officer when requested all information and
assistance in their possession or within their power. Any officer
participating in such inquiry who shall disclose to any person other
than the secretary of state the name of any witness examined or any
other information obtained upon such inquiry except as directed by the
secretary of state shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

S 339-c. Action by department of state. 1. Whenever the department of
state shall believe from evidence satisfactory to it that a subdivider
has engaged in, is engaged or is about to engage in any of the practices
or transactions heretofore referred to as fraudulent practices, it may
have an action brought in the manner hereinafter provided in the name
and on behalf of the people of the state of New York against such
subdivider and any other person or persons theretofore concerned in or
in any way participating in or about to participate in such fraudulent
practices, to enjoin such subdivider and such other person or persons
from continuing such fraudulent practices or engaging therein or doing
any act or acts in furtherance thereof or, if the department of state
should believe from such evidence that such subdivider has or is engaged
in any such fraudulent practice, it may have included in such action an
application to enjoin permanently such subdivider and such other person
or persons as may have been or may be concerned with or in any way
participating in such fraudulent practice, from selling or offering for
sale to the public within this state, as principal, owner, subdivider,
broker or agent or otherwise, any vacant land or lands. In said action
an order or a judgment may be entered awarding the relief applied for or
so much thereof as the court may deem proper. Upon a showing by the
department of state in the application brought in its behalf for a
preliminary injunction hereunder that the defendant named in the action
or an officer thereof has refused to be sworn or to be examined or to
answer a material question or to produce a book or paper relevant to the
inquiry when duly ordered so to do by the officer or judge duly
conducting an inquiry into the subject matter forming the basis of the
application for such preliminary injunction, such refusal shall be prima
facie proof that such defendant is or has been engaged in fraudulent
practices as set forth in such application and a preliminary injunction
may issue from the supreme court without any further showing by the
department of state.
2. If the vacant land or lands of a foreign corporation, company,
association or non-resident individual are offered or advertised for
sale within the state of New York and such corporation, company,
association or non-resident individual has not filed pursuant to laws
heretofore or hereafter existing the designation of a person upon whom
process against him or it may be served or the designation of the
secretary of state as such person pursuant to section two hundred ten of
the general corporation law or other laws heretofore or hereafter
existing or in lieu thereof, an instrument in writing duly acknowledged
and filed in the office of the secretary of state designating the
secretary of state as the person upon whom may be served any subpoena,
subpoena duces tecum or other process directed to such foreign
corporation, company, association or non-resident individual and issued
in any investigation, examination or proceeding pending or about to be
instituted under and pursuant to the provisions of this article, a
notice may be served upon such foreign corporation, company or
association, or upon any non-resident officer thereof, or upon a
non-resident individual, by mailing the same in a securely sealed
postpaid wrapper addressed to such foreign corporation, company or
association, or officer thereof, or non-resident individual, at its or
his last known place of business or residence, and may in such notice
require that such foreign corporation, company or association, or such
officer thereof, or non-resident individual, furnish a written
statement, verified as required in said notice, giving the information
therein specified relating to the vacant land or lands offered or to be
offered in the state of New York by such foreign corporation, company,
association or non-resident individual or, in the alternative, that such
foreign corporation, company or association, by its proper officer or
officers, or such non-resident individual, shall appear within a
reasonable time from the date of mailing such notice at a designated
place within this state for examination and shall produce at the time
and place of such examination such books and papers of such foreign
corporation, company, association or non-resident individual, as may be
designated in such notice.
If such foreign corporation, company, association, or such officer
thereof, or non-resident individual, shall fail to furnish the statement
called for by such notice, or shall fail to appear pursuant thereto or
to produce the books and papers required thereby to be produced, or
refuse to submit to examination or to answer any proper question, the
proof of such failure or refusal shall constitute prima facie evidence
that the sale or offering for sale or advertisement of vacant land or
lands of such foreign corporation, company, association or non-resident
individual constitutes a fraudulent practice within the meaning of this
act and may in the discretion of the court be treated as a sufficient
basis for a permanent injunction against the continuance of such
fraudulent practice.
3. In any action brought in behalf of the department of state as
provided in this article, the court at any stage of the proceedings may
appoint a receiver of any and all property derived by the defendant or
defendants or any of them by means of any such fraudulent practices,
including also all property with which such property has been mingled if
such property can not be identified in kind because of such commingling,
together with any or all books of account and papers relating to the
same. The judgment entered in such action may provide that such
receiver shall take title to any or all such property and books of
account and papers relating to the same and liquidate such property or
any part thereof for the benefit of all persons intervening in the said
action and establishing an interest in such property. The judgment may
also provide that all such property, the title to or interest in which
has not been established in such action by intervenors or otherwise by
due process to be in a person or persons other than defendant or
defendants, shall be returned to the defendant or defendants as their
interest may appear. Such receiver shall be subject to all the duties of
receivers appointed in civil actions as far as practicable except that
such provisions relating to commissions or compensation of receivers
shall not be applicable to receivers appointed pursuant to this section,
but such commissions or compensation shall be fixed by the court in any
amount which it may determine to be just and equitable. In any action
brought in behalf of the department of state as provided in this article
the court may grant such other and further relief as may be proper.
4. Whenever the department of state has determined to commence an
action under this article, it may have the attorney-general present to
any justice of the supreme court, before beginning such action, an
application in writing for an order directing the person or persons
mentioned in the application to appear before the justice of the supreme
court or referee designated in such order and answer such questions as
may be put to them or to any of them, or to produce such papers,
documents and books concerning the alleged fraudulent practices to which
the action which the department of state has determined to bring
relates, and it shall be the duty of the justice of the supreme court to
whom such application for the order is made to grant such application.
The application for such order may simply show upon information and
belief that the testimony of such person or persons is material and
necessary. The provisions of the civil practice law and rules, relating
to an application for an order for the examination of witnesses before
the commencement of an action and the method of proceeding on such
examination shall not apply except as herein prescribed. The order shall
be granted by the justice of the supreme court to whom the application
has been made with such preliminary injunction or stay as may appear to
such justice to be proper and expedient and shall specify the time when
and place where the witnesses are required to appear. The justice or
referee may adjourn such examination from time to time and witnesses
must attend accordingly. The testimony of each witness must be
subscribed by him and all must be filed in the office of the clerk of
the county in which such order for examination is filed.
5. The order for such examination must be signed by the justice making
it and service of a copy thereof with an endorsement by the department
of state or the attorney-general, to the effect that the person named
therein is required to appear and be examined at the time and place and
before the justice and referee specified in such endorsement, shall be
sufficient notice for the attendance of witnesses, such endorsement may
contain a clause requiring such person to produce at such examination
all books, papers and documents in his possession or under his control
relating to the subject of such examination. The order shall be served
upon the person named in the endorsement aforesaid by showing him the
original order and delivering to and leaving with him at the same time a
copy thereof, endorsed as above provided, and by paying or tendering to
him the fee allowed by law to witnesses subpoenaed to attend trials of
civil actions in any court of record in this state.
6. The referee appointed as provided in this article possesses all the
powers and is subject to all the duties of a referee appointed in a
civil action, so far as practicable, and may punish for contempt a
witness duly served with the papers as prescribed in this article for
non-attendance or refusal to be sworn or to testify or to produce books,
papers and documents according to the direction of the endorsement
aforesaid, in the same manner and to the same extent as a referee to
hear, try and determine an issue of fact or of law.
7. The provisions of the civil practice law and rules shall apply to
all actions brought under this article except as herein otherwise
provided.
8. If any person shall ask to be excused from testifying or producing
any book, paper or other document before the department of state or the
attorney-general or his deputy, or other officer designated by it or him
or before any court, or magistrate, or referee, upon any trial,
investigation or proceeding initiated by the department of state, the
attorney-general, district attorney, grand jury or court pursuant to the
provisions of this article upon the ground or for the reason that the
testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him may
tend to incriminate him or convict him of crime or to subject him to a
penalty or forfeiture, and shall notwithstanding be directed by the
court, referee, magistrate or officer conducting the inquiry to testify
or to produce such book, paper or document, he must none the less comply
with such direction but in such event he shall not thereafter be
prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account
of any transaction, matter or thing concerning which he was ordered to
testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, pursuant thereto
and no testimony so given or produced shall be received against him upon
any criminal action, suit or proceeding, investigation, inquisition or
inquiry.
Provided, however, no person so testifying shall be exempt from
prosecution or punishment for any perjury committed by him in his
testimony given as herein provided for, nor shall immunity apply to
corporations or to the officers as such.