Tweet Ponzi scheme is 101 years old A lot has been written about Ponzi schemes, but did you know that the Ponzi scheme seems to have had its genesis in Canada? Since this December is the 101st anniversary of the conviction of Charles Ponzi, its probably a good time to explore the Canadian side of […]
Tweet Foreign actors attacking US capital markets The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) has filed a complaint against several Vancouver individuals involved in the microcap space, calling them “foreign actors” and accusing them of attacking the US capital markets and US investors using various alleged securities fraud schemes. The SEC says that over US$1 billion […]
Tweet In 1988, Madam Justice Southin, as she then was, was judging a massive pump and dump case involving microcap issuers that was orchestrated in Vancouver, United Services Funds (Trustee of) v. Lazzell [1988] B.C.J. No. 743, 28 B.C.L.R. (2d) 26. Although 33 years old, the case should be required reading for capital markets participants […]
Tweet Two months ago, the Alberta Securities Commission (“ASC“) issued an order permanently banning two individuals it called “scoundrels” from the capital markets permanently, together with an issuer that operated a pump and dump scheme. The individuals are Cem Can (“Can“), a Turkish foreign national, and Charles Michael Miller. The issuer is Bluforest Inc. (“Bluforest” […]
Tweet The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) filed a civil complaint against 5 American promoters of the Blockchain protocol known as BitConnect this week. Investors from around the world lost over US$2 billion with BitConnect. The SEC alleges that the defendants conducted an unregistered offering and sale of securities in connection with its native coin […]
Tweet Complaint filed by the SEC The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York this week against RenovaCare, Inc. (the “Company“) and Harmel Rayat (“Rayat“) alleging that material misrepresentations were made in the disclosure material filed by the Company, and that the Company used a secret paid […]
Tweet With access to justice becoming a growing problem in Canada, as more people and companies become unable to afford to litigate, or be litigated against, lawyers and governments are turning to technology to find ways to bring down the costs of litigation and of prosecution. Covid-19 has forced us to accelerate the use of […]
Tweet Once upon a time there was an issuer in British Columbia that went through so many pivots, one’s head spins reading their Sedar filings. Its name is StillCanna. We went through its Sedar filings for the sole purpose of documenting how some issuers pivot. The issuer started out as Symbio Capital Corp., as a […]
Tweet Cease trade order This week, the British Columbia Securities Commission (the “BCSC“) issued a cease trade order (“CTO“) in respect of the securities of Blok Technologies Inc., (“Blok“) a British Columbia issuer. The CTO was issued for a failure of the issuer to make certain required periodic financial filings on Sedar. Bridgemark case Blok […]
Tweet SEC complaint The US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC“) filed charges against three Canadians, four Americans and nine private companies in the US District Court for the Southern District of California, for numerous violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, for alleged manipulative market behaviour, including […]