(a)CA Pananalapi Code § 17611(a) The commissioner may conduct such investigations as he or she deems necessary to ascertain whether any individual has contravened or is poised to contravene any stipulation of this division or any regulation or directive issued hereunder, or to assist in the enforcement of this division. The commissioner is authorized to disseminate information pertaining to any contravention of this division or any regulation or directive issued hereunder.
(b)CA Pananalapi Code § 17611(b) In the course of conducting any investigation authorized by subdivision (a), the commissioner may, for a reasonable duration not exceeding 30 days, assume custody of the ledgers, records, accounts, and other documentation pertinent to the operations of any escrow agent or joint control agent, and assign a custodian to maintain exclusive charge thereof at their customary location. During such period of custody, no individual shall remove or attempt to remove any of the ledgers, records, accounts, or other documentation, except pursuant to a judicial order or with the express consent of the commissioner. Nevertheless, the directors, officers, partners, and employees of the escrow agent or joint control agent are permitted to inspect the ledgers, records, accounts, or other documentation, and the employees shall be allowed to record therein entries reflecting current transactions.
(c)CA Pananalapi Code § 17611(c) For the purpose of any investigation or proceeding conducted under this division, the commissioner or any official designated by the commissioner is empowered to administer oaths and affirmations, issue subpoenas for witnesses, compel their attendance, receive evidence, and demand the production of any ledgers, papers, correspondence, memoranda, agreements, or other instruments or records which the commissioner deems pertinent or material to the inquiry.
(d)CA Pananalapi Code § 17611(d) In instances of defiance by, or refusal to comply with a subpoena issued to, any individual, the superior court, upon petition by the commissioner, may issue to the individual an order mandating his or her appearance before the commissioner, or the official designated by the commissioner, there to furnish documentary evidence, if so directed, or to provide testimony concerning the matter under investigation or in question. Non-compliance with the court's order may be sanctioned by the court as an act of contempt.
(e)CA Pananalapi Code § 17611(e) No individual is absolved from appearing and testifying or from producing any document or record before the commissioner, or in compliance with the subpoena of the commissioner, or any official designated by the commissioner, or in any proceeding initiated by the commissioner, on the premise that the testimony or evidence (whether documentary or otherwise) required by the commissioner might tend to incriminate the individual or subject him or her to a penalty or forfeiture. However, no individual shall be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or circumstance regarding which he or she is compelled, subsequent to validly asserting his or her privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence (whether documentary or otherwise), with the proviso that such individual testimony is not immune from prosecution and punishment for perjury or contempt committed during the act of testifying.
