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BCSC finds four guilty of running Ponzi scheme
A British Columbia Securities Commission panel has found that four B.C. residents carried out a “deliberate and well-organized” fraud in a Ponzi scheme.
Hal Allan McLeod, David John Vaughan, Kenneth Robert McMordie and Dianne Sharon Rosiek violated securities laws when they traded in securities without being registered and distributed securities without filing a prospectus. The group also made misrepresentations to investors about how their money would be invested, the returns investors could expect and the risk associated with the investments.
Distributions, misrepresentations and frauds were made through Manna Trading Corp. Ltd., Manna Humanitarian Foundation, Legacy Capital Inc. and Legacy Trust Inc. Investors were encouraged to loan Manna money and were told that their money would be placed with experienced traders who had a long history of producing double-digit monthly returns through foreign currency trading.
“All of these statements were misrepresentations,” said the Securities Commission panel in its decision. “There is no evidence that Manna placed investors’ funds with foreign currency traders or that the investors’ funds earned returns from any other source. Manna had no trading profits. Manna investors did not experience the historical returns that Manna said they did. Manna had no source of revenue other than investor contributions. The trust structure was a sham.”
With more than 800 investors affected and losses totalling more than US$10 million, the group will be sentenced after submissions have been made.
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First Trust/Highland Capital Funds merge funds
First Trust/Highland Capital Floating Rate Income Fund (Terminating Fund) and First Trust/Highland Capital Floating Rate Income Fund II (Continuing Fund) are expected to merge around Aug. 18, 2009.
As a result of the merger, the redeemable, transferable units of the Terminating Fund will be de-listed at the close of trading on Thursday Aug. 13.
The Terminating Fund units will be redeemed in exchange for units of the Continuing Fund at an exchange ratio based on the relative net asset value of the units of the Continuing Fund and the units of the Terminating Fund as at the close of trading on Aug. 14.
The Terminating Fund will be terminated immediately after the merger. Terminating Fund unitholders are not required to take any action in order to receive units of the Continuing Fund in exchange for their units.
(08/07/09)
Filed by Staff, [email protected]
Originally published on Advisor.ca
