Ontario judge orders jail time for Securities Act violations

An Ontario judge sentenced a man to three years in jail after he pleaded guilty to charges in connection with a scheme that raised more than US$7 million from investors.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced that Douglas DeBoer — who pleaded guilty on Aug. 19 to two fraud charges and one count of violating an OSC trading ban — has now been ordered to serve three years in jail by Justice Amanda Camara of the Ontario Court of Justice in Hamilton, Ont.

In 2018, the OSC brought quasi-criminal charges against DeBoer, including two counts of trading without registration and trading without a prospectus, in addition to the counts he was convicted on.

According to the OSC, the charges stem from the sale in 2011 through 2013 of more than US$4 million of securities in a company called Hockley Energy and more than US$3 million worth of securities in a company called Rocky Point Energy.

“In his plea to the court, Mr. DeBoer admitted that he perpetrated fraud on investors by facilitating and promoting the sale of these investments,” the OSC said in a release.

He also admitted to directing investors’ funds for uses other than drilling for oil, “which was what investors were promised — including the disbursement of funds to his family and close associates,” the OSC said.

DeBoer was prohibited from trading under a settlement with the OSC in 2015, which included a five-year trading ban that ran until 2020, for violations that included unregistered trading and distribution in another energy company.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.