---
kind: "section"
citation: "15 U.S.C. § 717c–1"
title: "15"
title_heading: "Commerce and Trade"
number: "717c–1"
heading: "Prohibition on market manipulation"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/15/717c-1"
units:
  - "Chapter 15B — Natural Gas"
---

# §717c–1. Prohibition on market manipulation


It shall be unlawful for any entity, directly or indirectly, to use or employ, in connection with the purchase or sale of [natural gas](/usc/15/717a.md?p=5) or the purchase or sale of transportation services subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, any manipulative or deceptive [device](/usc/15/55.md?p=d) or contrivance (as those terms are used in [section 78j(b) of this title](/usc/15/78j.md?p=b)) in contravention of such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe as necessary in the public interest or for the protection of [natural gas](/usc/15/717a.md?p=5) ratepayers. Nothing in this section shall be construed to create a private right of action.


## Source credit

(June 21, 1938, ch. 556, § 4A, as added Pub. L. 109–58, title III, § 315, Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 691.)