Alberta Securities Commission has ordered a 20-year market ban against an Ontario resident for his role in illegally raising $2.7 million from more than 500 Alberta investors.

The ASC panel banned Al Grossman (also known as Abraham Grossman and Allen Grossman) from trading in the Alberta capital market, using Alberta securities laws exemptions or acting as a director or officer of any issuer, for 20 years. The panel also ordered Grossman to pay an administrative penalty of $250,000 and $40,000 in costs.

The ASC panel found that between September 2004 and January 2006, Grossman, president of Maitland Capital Ltd., and Maitland salespersons cold called investors in several Canadian provinces to encourage them to purchase Maitland Capital common shares. Grossman and the salespersons were not registered to do so in Alberta.

The panel also determined that Grossman made misrepresentations to Maitland investors and made false statements to an ASC investigator. From the evidence submitted, the panel concluded that all funds invested in Maitland Capital have been lost and that investors have been left with unsaleable securities.

As a result of Grossman’s “multiple serious contraventions of or failures to comply with Alberta securities laws and his serious, at times egregious, conduct contrary to the public interest – and his troubling failure to recognize the seriousness of his misconduct,” the panel determined that he would pose a risk to Alberta investors if his future access to the market was not restricted.

The ASC panel also ordered Ron Gardner (also known as Ron Garner), a Maitland salesperson, to pay a $15,000 administrative penalty and cease trading or using securities exemptions for five years.

Other Maitland salespeople, William Rouse, Dianna Cassidy and Robert Geller, were ordered to pay $10,000 each in administrative penalties and cease trading or using exemptions for 10 years.

The panel also prohibited the trade of Maitland Capital Ltd. securities until a prospectus is filed with the ASC.

The ASC panel ordered Maitland and the salespeople to pay a total of $24,000 in costs.

A copy of the first and second part of the decision in its entirety is posted on the ASC website at www.albertasecurities.com.