The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) panel on May 16 sanctioned two men and two companies for illegally raising money from Canadian and U.S. investors.
Daniel Scammell and Casper de Beer must pay the BCSC $1.2 million in compensation as well as $50,000 in administrative penalties.
Both are prohibited from trading in securities and purchasing securities or exchange contracts, with limited exceptions. The men are also barred from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer, registrant, or investment fund manager for five years.
They are also prohibited, for the same period, from becoming or acting as a registrant, investment fund manager or promoter, from engaging in investor relations activities and from acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with the securities market.
The prohibitions remain in place until May 14, 2017, or the date when these amounts have been paid, whichever comes last.
In December 2011, a BCSC panel found that Scammell, Beer, Verified Transactions Corp. (VTC) and VerifySmart Corp. (formerly known as Verified Capital Corp.) traded in securities without being registered in B.C. and distributed those securities without filing a prospectus.
Between September 2006 and December 2008, Scammell and VTC raised $641,309 from 49 investors in B.C., Alberta and Washington State.
The panel found that these securities were distributed illegally.
Between November 2008 and March 2009, de Beer and VerifySmart distributed shares in VerifySmart to 50 investors in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, raising a total of $575,000.
The panel also found these securities to have been distributed illegally.
