15 U.S.C. § 80B
Section 80b · Prohibited transactions by investment advisers
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 306 court decisions — leading case Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis (1979)
Most recently applied in Robert Goodrich v. Bank of America N.A. (May 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 15 U.S.C. § 78J · 15 U.S.C. § 77Q · 15 U.S.C. § 80B
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
It shall be unlawful for any investment adviser by use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, directly or indirectly—
(1) to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud any client or prospective client;
(2) to engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client or prospective client;
(3) acting as principal for his own account, knowingly to sell any security to or purchase any security from a client, or acting as broker for a person other than such client, knowingly to effect any sale or purchase of any security for the account of such client, without disclosing to such client in writing before the completion of such transaction the capacity in which he is acting and obtaining the consent of the client to such transaction. The prohibitions of this paragraph shall not apply to any transaction with a customer of a broker or dealer if such broker or dealer is not acting as an investment adviser in relation to such transaction; or
(4) to engage in any act, practice, or course of business which is fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative. The Commission shall, for the purposes of this paragraph (4) by rules and regulations define, and prescribe means reasonably designed to prevent, such acts, practices, and courses of business as are fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2010—Par. (3). Pub. L. 111–203 inserted “or” at end.
1960—Pub. L. 86–750, §8, struck out “registered under section 80b–3 of this title” from introductory text.
Par. (4). Pub. L. 86–750, §9, added par. (4).
Effective Date of 2010 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 111–203 effective 1 day after July 21, 2010, except as otherwise provided, see section 4 of Pub. L. 111–203, set out as an Effective Date note under section 5301 of Title 12, Banks and Banking.