73

Any person who maliciously and knowingly spreads false reports about the finances or management or activity of any cooperative corporation incorporated under or subject to this chapter or organized under a similar statute of another state, and operating in this state under due authority, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be subject to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars for each such offense; and shall be liable to the corporation aggrieved in a civil suit in the penal sum of five hundred dollars for each such offense.