Any person who willfully and maliciously makes, circulates, or transmits to another or to others, any false statement, rumor, or suggestion, written, printed, or by word of mouth, which directly or by inference is derogatory to the financial condition, or which affects the solvency or financial standing, of any state or national bank, of any state or federal credit union, or of any annuity, safe deposit, surety, or trust company authorized to do business in this state, or who counsels, aids, procures, or induces another to start, transmit, or circulate any such false statement or rumor, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor, and in addition thereto is liable in damages to such association, or corporation, or the receiver thereof, to be recovered in a civil action brought for that purpose.
N.D.C.C. § 6-08-15