Shocking article we came across from June 2014 – investors in this project (on Vancouver Island) lost $370,000,000 dollars.
They are “pushing for more accountability from regulators” and feel “the regulators who were put in place to protect us, really dropped the ball.”
Can you blame them? On August 14, 2013, the BCSC issued a Notice of Hearing against the company for “Disclosure Violations” and by October 1, 2013 entered into a Settlement Agreement with the 2 directors of the company – fines totaling a mere $250,000 and they had to take a securities course….raise $370 million and have to pay the BCSC a $250,000 fine??? That’s not a bad deal if you are these two directors!
Now the interesting part – on October 18, 2013 (less than 3 weeks after settling with the Commission) their company (and associated companies) apply for and receive an Order under the Companies Creditor Arrangement Act (“CCAA”) leaving most of the investors with nothing.
From what is reported in the article (above), investors placed funds into a pool (known as a MIC) and thought the fund managers were going to use those funds to buy revenue producing properties – soon afterwards, they started straying from that business model and started developing project – which they did not have expertise in doing. Losses occurred and they were not able to stay afloat.
It is the investors opinion that this is something the BCSC should have been able to see – during the investigation and before the Settlement was accepted.
Good thing the BCSC got their measly $250,000 first….do you think they will give any of that to the investors who lost over a quarter of a billion dollars?
Me neither!