A British Columbia Securities Commission panel ordered two Quebec residents to pay $38,871 in penalties and banned them from trading or purchasing securities for one year after finding that they illegally purchased the securities of a publicly traded issuer, the B.C. regulator said Tuesday.

During a BCSC hearing, Kegam Kevin Torudag and Lai Lai Chan admitted to purchasing the shares of Icon Industries Limited, a TSX Venture Exchange issuer, about two and a half hours before the company announced a mineral acquisition on March 13, 2007. They also admitted that they were in a special relationship with the company at the time, and they knew about the acquisition.

On March 11, 2009, a BCSC panel found that Torudag and Chan illegally traded on insider information because they failed to reasonably establish that material facts about Icon’s mineral acquisition had been generally disclosed to the market when they purchased the securities.

In its sanctions decision, the commission panel banned Torudag from buying or selling securities or exchange contracts, except in limited circumstances, until June 18, 2010 and ordered him to pay $36,771.

The commission panel prohibited Chan from purchasing and trading securities or exchange contracts, except in limited circumstances, until June 18, 2010, and she must pay $2,100. Chan is also banned from acting as a director or officer for the same period of time, and must complete a course of study on the duties and responsibilities of directors and officers.

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