By The Book:

(February 20, 2008) It appears that the long pursuit of Andrew Rankin by the Ontario Securities Commission may be finally nearing an end.

The OSC will hold a hearing in Toronto on Thursday, pursuant to sections 127 and 127.1 of the Securities Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.S.5. At the hearing, the commission will decide whether it is in the public interest to approve the settlement between staff of the OSC and Rankin.

In May 2007, the OSC decided to take Andrew Rankin back to court after failing once to convict him of stock tipping.

Initially, Rankin was found guilty on 10 counts of stock tipping in October 2005; however, the decision was overturned in November 2006 by the Ontario Superior Court, which declared that the first trial judge had made errors in the decision.

The OSC appealed the Superior Court’s decision but lost and was faced with the choice of either dropping the charges or starting a new trial.

BCSC bans man 12 years for illegally selling stock

(February 20, 2008) The British Columbia Securities Commission has settled with the former president and director of two companies who admitted to illegally distributing and misrepresenting approximately $6.6 million in securities to investors across Canada.

Gregory William Rivers, a Quesnel resident, was the president and director of Advanced Rescue Technologies Inc. (ARTI) and NOF Electrical Generation Inc. (NOF). The BCSC says between February 2002 and April 2005, the two companies distributed, directly and through agents, approximately $6.6 million in preferred shares to investors across Canada without being registered and without filing a prospectus.

At least 27 British Columbia residents invested nearly $1 million in ARTI and NOF. The BCSC says Rivers made misrepresentations to investors when he failed to disclose ARTI had paid almost $75,000 in commissions to Alvin Lee Johnson and VG Capital Group Inc., two parties named in a separate BCSC notice of hearing. Rivers also failed to disclose to NOF investors that the company had made over $4 million in interest-free, non-arm’s length loans to individuals and companies, including ARTI.

Rivers has agreed to pay $10,000 and cease trading in securities, not become or act as a director or officer of any issuer and not engage in investor relations for 12 years.

(02/20/08)

Staff

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