(a) Offers, sales, or purchases of conversion shares. In connection with offers, sales, or purchases of conversion shares under this part, a savings association and its directors, officers, agents, or employees may not:

(1) Employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud;

(2) Obtain money or property by means of any untrue statement of a material fact or any omission of a material fact necessary to make the statements, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; or

(3) Engage in any act, transaction, practice, or course of business that operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon a purchaser or seller.

(b) Conversion. During the conversion, no person may:

(1) Transfer, or enter into any agreement or understanding to transfer, the legal or beneficial ownership of subscription rights for the savings association's conversion shares or the underlying securities to the account of another;

(2) Make any offer, or any announcement of an offer, to purchase any of the savings association's conversion shares from anyone but the savings association; or

(3) Knowingly acquire more than the maximum purchase allowable under the savings association's plan of conversion.

(c) Exceptions. The restrictions in paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section do not apply to offers for more than 10 percent of any class of conversion shares by:

(1) An underwriter or a selling group, acting on the savings association's behalf, that makes the offer with a view toward public resale; or

(2) One or more of the savings association's tax-qualified employee stock ownership plans so long as the plan or plans do not beneficially own more than 25 percent of any class of the savings association's equity securities in the aggregate.

(d) Violations. Any person found to have violated the restrictions in paragraph (a) or (b) of this section may become subject to an enforcement action, civil money penalties, criminal prosecution, or other legal action.