02/23/2024
West Vancouver resident Justin Liu has agreed to pay $950,000 and to serve a 10-year ban for improperly obtaining shares in Canadian Securities Exchange companies. The B.C. Securities Commission claimed that Mr. Liu was part of a scheme involving nine listings and $ 50.8 million worth of shares. He and others obtained stock in part through sham consulting agreements, according to the BCSC.
The penalties for Mr. Liu are contained in a settlement agreement that the BCSC released on Thursday, Feb. 22. The agreement specifies that Mr. Liu is banned from trading, except in limited circumstances, for 10 years. He is also barred from promoting stocks, serving as an officer or director, and from acting in a "management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities or derivatives markets." The $950,000 he must pay constitutes an administrative penalty, payable immediately.
The penalties arise from a scheme from 2018 in which Mr. Liu and others arranged consulting agreements with CSE companies. The agreements saw the consultants perform little or no work, and served as a way to extract tradable shares from the companies, according to the BCSC. The way the scheme operated was that the companies would raise money through private placements, with the consultants purchasing shares in the placements, the BCSC says. The companies would then use the proceeds of the placements to pay the consultants. The end result was that the consultants received their money back along with tradable shares, which they sold shortly after receiving them, the BCSC claims.
In all, the scheme involved public companies claiming that they would raise $50.8-million, and then handing all but $7.8-million to the purported consultants, the BCSC says. Mr. Liu's participation, as set out in the settlement, amounted to $5.6-million worth of shares. He promoted the scheme to several companies, and participated in private placements with two of those companies, according to the settlement.
Mr. Liu is one of several people and companies that the BCSC has been pursuing over the scheme. Previously receiving a 10-year ban was North Vancouver resident Cameron Robert Paddock, who was accused of generating $2.5-million in proceeds from the scheme. The BCSC ordered him to pay $200,000.
The BCSC has also been pursuing the companies involved and their officers, citing them for misleading shareholders about the money they were raising. Among those recently sanctioned was former Majuba Hill Copper Corp. president Bryn Gardener-Evans. The BCSC accused him of failing to make the appropriate disclosures as the company raised $4.6-million and $1.6-million in 2018.
For Mr. Liu, Thursday's penalties represent his first infraction. The penalties apply to him and to two private entities that he controls: Lukor Capital Corp. and Asiatic Management Consultants Ltd.
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Lol! BCSC. Jokers...all that for nothing.
Guy made 100M$.
Apparently the Canadian Govt is letting Willie Pickton out as well.
Thank baby jesus for the law. Hahaha
Posted by Jack Black at 2024-02-23 07:06
