Selling text links ads thorugh TLA or DLA result in Google penalty?

[Automotive site]

Can selling text link ads in the sidebar using TLA or Direct-Link-Ads result in a Googlge penalty? I use to use TLA before for one of my sites but stopped using them for the fear of Google dropping the sit because i heard a few rumors on webmaster forums of this happening.

Is this concrete or not? Are people still using TLA or DLA or some other similar?

[C7Mike]

Yes, you may receive a penalty for purchasing links that pass PageRank.

See Google's Webmasters/Site owner Help topic for more information:
[google.com...]

[Automotive site]

Well, I was actually going to use one of thoose to sell and not purchase. Anyway, I am going to apply to BuyandSellAds and see if I get accepted there, but I heard they mostly accept tech related sites.

[C7Mike]

You may receive a penalty for both buying and selling paid links that pass PageRank (see [google.com...]

I have had a few sites lose their PR because they published links through TLA. However the content was still good enough that advertisers have continued to purchase links on those pages through TLA inspite of the lack of PR, and at a substantially lower rate.