Post by IAMCAPER on Jun 29, 2004 14:20:26 GMT -4
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia Securities Commission has come down hard on a local trader for his part in a scheme to manipulate the value of shares in now-defunct Knowledge House Inc.
Bruce Elliott Clarke was slapped with a $75,000 fine — the maximum is $100,000 — and ordered to pay another $75,000 toward the cost of the investigation and hearing.
The commission cancelled his registration and banned him from trading, except for his personal RRSP account, for five years. He is also prohibited from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer for five years.
The details were contained in a settlement the parties released at Clarke’s hearing, which was held in Halifax yesterday. The settlement had been reached in April.
Knowledge House was a Halifax-based e-learning company that collapsed in 2001.
Since then, a series of lawsuits and counter-suits have been filed alleging misconduct by the company’s senior executives, especially in the manipulation of the stock price. Those legal actions are continuing.
In an agreed statement of facts, Clarke admitted that while an employee of National Bank Financial Ltd. he had agreed to “assist a number of Knowledge House insiders, their associates and relatives in carrying out an arrangement to maintain the price of the company’s stock and to provide liquidity for the stock.”
This arrangement was never disclosed to the public, which is contrary to the provincial securities act, the statement said.
He also owned and operated a separate account, in which he traded Knowledge House stock.
Between March 2000 and July 2001, Clarke traded shares on behalf of the group that “caused the price and bid of (Knowledge House) to close on an uptick in furtherance of the arrangement.”
Clarke came to the commission in December 2003 and co-operated fully in the investigations jointly carried out by the commission, the Investment Dealers Association of Canada and Market Regulation Services Inc., the statement said.
It also said Clarke did not profit from his dealings, save for regular commissions and fees.
He has agreed to provide documents and to testify at any future hearings related to Knowledge House.
Scott Peathingy, the commission’s deputy director for compliance and enforcement, said while the trading ban applies only to Nova Scotia, it is unlikely Clarke will be able to ply his trade elsewhere.
Notices will be sent to commissions in other provinces, and it will be up to each jurisdiction to take its own action, Peathingy said.
“The directors of enforcement in (other provinces) would be very interested in the outcome of proceedings here,” he said.
Clarke was disciplined by the Montreal Exchange in 1995 on another matter. He was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay costs of $5,000.
Bruce Elliott Clarke was slapped with a $75,000 fine — the maximum is $100,000 — and ordered to pay another $75,000 toward the cost of the investigation and hearing.
The commission cancelled his registration and banned him from trading, except for his personal RRSP account, for five years. He is also prohibited from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer for five years.
The details were contained in a settlement the parties released at Clarke’s hearing, which was held in Halifax yesterday. The settlement had been reached in April.
Knowledge House was a Halifax-based e-learning company that collapsed in 2001.
Since then, a series of lawsuits and counter-suits have been filed alleging misconduct by the company’s senior executives, especially in the manipulation of the stock price. Those legal actions are continuing.
In an agreed statement of facts, Clarke admitted that while an employee of National Bank Financial Ltd. he had agreed to “assist a number of Knowledge House insiders, their associates and relatives in carrying out an arrangement to maintain the price of the company’s stock and to provide liquidity for the stock.”
This arrangement was never disclosed to the public, which is contrary to the provincial securities act, the statement said.
He also owned and operated a separate account, in which he traded Knowledge House stock.
Between March 2000 and July 2001, Clarke traded shares on behalf of the group that “caused the price and bid of (Knowledge House) to close on an uptick in furtherance of the arrangement.”
Clarke came to the commission in December 2003 and co-operated fully in the investigations jointly carried out by the commission, the Investment Dealers Association of Canada and Market Regulation Services Inc., the statement said.
It also said Clarke did not profit from his dealings, save for regular commissions and fees.
He has agreed to provide documents and to testify at any future hearings related to Knowledge House.
Scott Peathingy, the commission’s deputy director for compliance and enforcement, said while the trading ban applies only to Nova Scotia, it is unlikely Clarke will be able to ply his trade elsewhere.
Notices will be sent to commissions in other provinces, and it will be up to each jurisdiction to take its own action, Peathingy said.
“The directors of enforcement in (other provinces) would be very interested in the outcome of proceedings here,” he said.
Clarke was disciplined by the Montreal Exchange in 1995 on another matter. He was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay costs of $5,000.