The New Brunswick Securities Commission has ordered an Alberta couple to pay more than $250,000 in penalties, disgorgement and costs for their role in a failed investment scheme.

The NBSC announced Thursday that Steven Vincent Weeres, of Millet, Alta., was ordered to pay $200,000 in administrative penalties and permanently banned from New Brunswick’s capital markets after a commission panel found that he defrauded an investor, among other Securities Act violations.

Rebekah Donszelmann, also of Millet, was ordered to pay $25,000 and she was banned from New Brunswick capital markets for 20 years for her role in a Fredericton-based investment scheme promoted under the name Shaker Management Group Inc.

The panel also ordered the pair to return $22,600 to an investor who suffered losses through an investment in the scheme. And, they were ordered to pay investigation and hearing costs of $13,575.

In November 2011, the panel found that Weeres and Donszelmann traded in securities without being registered and without having filed a prospectus with the commission. It also found that Weeres made prohibited representations, committed fraud, and made untrue and misleading representations.

“It is critical that the commission sends a strong message that these are serious offences and that those who commit such offences should be sanctioned accordingly,” said Rick Hancox, executive director of the NBSC.

In its decision, the panel said, “In the commission’s view, the respondents’ submissions on sanctions demonstrate that they do not recognize or appreciate the seriousness of their conduct and they have not accepted responsibility for their misconduct, as they continue to dispute the findings made against them in the merits decision and show no remorse for the harm caused to certain investors and the integrity of New Brunswick’s capital markets.”

Back in January 2011, the NBSC reached a settlement with Shaker Management and another participant in the scheme, Trudy Hendry of Fredericton. According to the NBSC, Hendry claimed that she was misled by Weeres and Donszelmann, but she also acknowledged that, even though she was misled, her actions violated securities laws, causing damage to others.

Under the settlement agreement, Hendry was banned from selling or promoting investments and from securities exemptions; she was also banned from serving as director or officer of an issuer for five years. Shaker Management was also banned from selling investments and relying on exemptions.