Penalizing public companies that submit false information to agencies

Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by sections 4 and 5 of this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following: (j) (1) Any entity required to file an annual report under section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m) that makes a submission under subsection (c) knowing the same— (A) to include any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or (B) to omit any material fact resulting in any statement or representation being false or misleading, shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $250,000 for a first violation. (2) Any entity that has a subsequent violation of paragraph (1) shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $1,000,000 for each subsequent violation. (3) Any submission in violation of this subsection may be excluded from the record and from consideration by the agency or otherwise disregarded, and such submission (or any amendment to such submission) may not be resubmitted thereafter. An exclusion or other disregard of a submission pursuant to this subsection shall not affect the level of deference (in accordance with applicable law) accorded to agency action by a court reviewing such action. (k) Any entity required to file an annual report pursuant to section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m), shall include in a submission under subsection (c)(2) of this section the annual report filed in the year previous to such submission and the quarterly report filed most recently prior to such submission..