Disgraced former mutual fund dealer Ian Thow was arrested Tuesday by members of Oregon’s fugitive task force as he left a condominium in Portland.

Thow, former senior vice president of Berkshire Investment Group Inc. in Victoria, faces 25 counts of fraud.

The charges cover about $10 million in phony investments that Thow allegedly sold to clients and non-clients before he resigned from Berkshire in May 2005. He has yet to appear in court to face the criminal charges.

Thow appears in a Portland court Wednesday.

In December 2007, the B.C. Securities Commission imposed its largest ever fine against Thow and banned him from the securities industry after it ruled he used clients’ money for luxury cars, a yacht and a personal business jet, although the B.C. Appeal Court has since slashed the $6 million penalty to $250,000.

Before being arrested, he was last seen travelling over the Canada-U.S. border into Washington State.

The Victoria police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Vancouver Integrated Market Enforcement Team were all helping in the case.

IE