A B.C. Securities Commission panel is expected to set a date this week for a hearing into an alleged $46 million pump and dump stock scheme, whose key figures were brothers from 91原创 and Surrey.
Kamaldeep Thindal of 91原创 and Amaldeep Thindal of Surrey were, respectively, the managing partner and chief financial officer of Core Capital Partners. Also named in the BCSC action this July are Yazan Al Homsi, Mani Chopra, Pardeep Luddu and Aarun Kumar.
The BCSC, which regulates markets in stocks and other securities in the province, announced in July that it would hold a hearing to put forward evidence and apply for orders against Core Capital and the six named respondents.
A BCSC panel is scheduled to meet on Thursday, Oct. 12 to choose a date for the hearing. It may well not take place until next year.
The securities regulator alleges that the Core Capital group engaged in a scheme that involved buying up a significant stake in a low-valued company, then artificially inflating the stock鈥檚 value.
This was done, the BCSC claim alleges, by sending out deceptive press releases, and using financial newsletters and Twitter to hype the company鈥檚 prospects.
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In the case of a company called Reliq Health Technologies, Core Capital and its associates allegedly bought up about 25 per cent of the stock. It was trading for just over 10 cents a share in the summer of 2017.
By the following March, the price had gone up by more than 2,000 per cent, to $2.62 a share.
The BCSC claims the Core Capital group unloaded 23 million Reliq shares and netted about $20 million before the stock plunged in value again by the end of the year.
The claim outlines several other companies that had similar stories 鈥� purchases by Core Capital or its associates, wild hype via social media and investor newsletters, and then a crash.
Core Capital released a statement in July saying all the allegations were 鈥渨ithout merit鈥� and said they look forward to 鈥渄efending them vigorously.鈥�
If the BCSC panel finds that the respondents committed securities misconduct, it can impose fines of up to $1 million per contravention and also order the respondents to pay back any profits made from their activities. The money can be returned to investors. Finally, it can ban people from buying securities or derivatives, promoting stocks, or acting as a director to a company issuing stock.
The penalties and procedures of the BCSC are regulated by the Securities Act.
