A West Coast businessman has been fined $2 million after a B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) panel found investors in ski resort that was never built were scammed out of more than $600,000.
Between 2007 and 2012, Ron McHaffie raised $642,000 by selling shares he said would be used to take the proposed Bigfoot ski resort public.
“There is no evidence that (Bigfoot) or McHaffie spent any of the investors money, or took any other steps, to list Bigfoot on the Toronto Stock Exchange,” the BCSC said in the ruling it released June 6.
“This is not surprising – Bigfoot did not remotely meet the Exchange’s listing requirements.”
Instead, he used the money to buy gas, groceries and make retail purchases.
The panel also found the would-be resort mogul repeatedly told investors the resort would be completed in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“These were all lies,” the BCSC ruling said.
Even after the provincial government rejected the resort’s proposal in September 2010, McHaffie still raised an additional $111,000 from investors.
Although McHaffie, born in 1950, was never registered to sell securities in B.C. and Bigfoot never filed a prospectus, 30 investors put their money toward the project.
In addition to the $2-million fine, the panel ordered MacHaffie to repay investors their lost cash and permanently banned him from trading or promoting securities.
Neither McHaffie nor a representative from Bigfoot appeared at the panel’s December 2013 hearing.
