In a previous post, we reported on a then-ongoing Calgary trial involving an alleged $300 million Ponzi scheme affecting as many as 2,000 people, many of them Canadian.  The fraud represents one of the largest Ponzi schemes in Canadian history.  The accused individuals had already been sanctioned by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Alberta Securities Commission.
Continue Reading Guilty verdicts delivered in one of Canada’s largest ponzi schemes

On February 3, 2015, the Ontario Securities Commission (the “OSC“) released a staff consultation paper which outlines a proposed framework for an OSC Whistleblower Program. The program seeks to encourage individuals to report serious breaches of Ontario securities law, that would not otherwise come to the OSC’s attention.

Continue Reading The OSC Proposes a Framework for a New Whistleblower Program

A Calgary trial is nearing conclusion on criminal charges against Gary Allen Sorenson (“Sorenson”) and Milowe Brost (“Brost”) relating to an alleged $300 million Ponzi scheme that operated between 1999 to 2008 with money from thousands of investors across the United States and Canada. The alleged scheme was orchestrated utilizing the sale of promissory notes issued by Syndicated Gold Depository, Inc. (“SGD”), an entity formed in 1999 by Sorenson and Brost. The two men were arrested in 2009 for what police called “the largest Ponzi-type scheme” in Canadian history.


Continue Reading Final Arguments nearing end in trial of one the largest alleged Ponzi schemes in Canadian history

The Ontario Securities Commission (“OSC”) has almost completed its case in the high-profile Sino-Forest Corporation (“SFC”) hearing that began on September 2, 2014.  SFC and certain of its former executives are alleged to have engaged in widespread fraud relating to its public financial disclosure.  Specific allegations involve the fabrication or overestimation of revenue and assets, falsified evidence of ownership, backdated contracts, and undisclosed control over particular customers and suppliers.  The hearing is presently on a brief hiatus, with the respondents expected to begin their defence in late March of this year.
Continue Reading Sino-Forest OSC hearing continues

A panel of the British Columbia Securities Commission has imposed an administrative penalty of $33 million against Rashida Samji for committing a $100 million fraud on at least 200 investors in its recent sanction decision. The scheme which the panel determined was a Ponzi scheme earned her the nickname the ‘magic lady’. The panel also ordered that Samji be permanently banned from participating in B.C.’s capital markets and ordered disgorgement of aproximately $10.8 million. This was the difference between the monies deposited by the investors pursuant to the fraud and the monies paid out to them.
Continue Reading ‘Magic Lady’ ordered to pay $43 million for running Ponzi scheme in British Columbia

On July 31, 2014, the Honourable Mr. Justice Penny of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled in favour of the plaintiff in Indcondo Building Corporation v. Sloan (S.C.J.). For the plaintiff, Indcondo Building Corp (“Indcondo“), the ruling represents the culmination of more than two decades of litigation, which witnessed an intervening bankruptcy and subsequent orders under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (the “BIA“) as well as two separate dismissal motions brought by the defendants on limitation period and abuse of process/issue estoppel defences.  Each were initially successful, but both were reversed by the Ontario Court of Appeal [See Indcondo Building Corporation v. Sloan (C.A.) – Abuse of Process & Issue Estoppel & Indcondo Building Corporation v. Sloan (C.A) – Limitations].
Continue Reading The evolution of fraudulent conveyance – Indcondo v. Sloan

The Mareva injunction is a powerful tool for levelling the playing field when dealing with those who, left to their own devices, would dissipate their assets, with a view to frustrating the claims of their creditors.  While the commencement of litigation is the traditional juncture to seek such extraordinary relief, based in part on the idea that a defendant might then take steps to dissipate assets, it is not the only stage of the process at which such an order is available. If a Mareva was either not granted, or not sought, at the front end of the process, but then a money judgment is obtained, some defendants might then take steps to remove, conceal or consume assets, while an appeal is pending, thereby exploiting the automatic stay of execution imposed.
Continue Reading Mareva injunctions: They’re not just for pre-judgment anymore

Senior executives are sometimes indemnified against costs and expenses incurred as a result of legal proceedings that might be brought against such employees. Indemnification of this kind provides the executives with a level of security in which they can make necessary, often difficult decisions required in their roles without fear of being exposed to liability, should they become a target of legal proceedings. Absent specific and careful language, however, these indemnity clauses can leave employers vulnerable to paying costs and expenses associated with dismissing senior employees who are alleged to have committed fraud or other misconduct while employed.
Continue Reading How to attract strong candidates for executive positions while protecting against executive misconduct