The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has sanctioned two men and two companies for their capital-market misconduct.

An ASC panel found the Dale St. Jean and Gregory Tindall, TransCap Corporation and Strata-Trade Corporation made material misleading or untrue statements to investors and to have perpetrated a fraud on Alberta investors.

The ASC panel also found that St. Jean and Strata-Trade breached filing requirements and that Tindall concealed or withheld information reasonably required for an ASC investigation.

St. Jean and TIndall were officers and directors of TransCan and Strata-Trade. Between 2005 and 2009, the two companies raised approximately $51.6 million from the sale of debt securities to investors, including at least $25.03 million from sales to at least 133 Albertans. Some of this money was raised directly by TransCan, while some was raised by Strata-Trade which then lent it to TransCan.

The ASC panel order that:

> St. Jean and Tindall are permanently banned from trading in or purchasing securities, using Alberta securities laws exemptions, acting as a director or officer of any issuer, registrant or investment fund manager and acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with securities market activities, and that they disgorge, individually or jointly, $9.6 million obtained as a result of non-compliance with Alberta securities laws;

> St. Jean pay an administrative penalty of $1.2 million and costs of $30,000;

> Tindall pay an administrative penalty of $750,000 and costs of $35,000; and

> TransCap and Strata-Trade are both permanently banned from trading in or purchasing securities, using Alberta securities laws exemptions, acting as a registrant, investment fund manager or promoter and acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with securities market activities, and that all trading in or purchasing of TransCap and Strata-Trade securities must permanently cease.

In making these orders, the ASC panel ruled: “The extreme seriousness of the false and misleading statements and fraudulent conduct argues for very significant sanctions against each Respondent.” It also noted: “Significant and direct financial harm was done to the investors in this Ponzi scheme” that “has taken a predictable financial and emotional toll — certainly on investors who testified, but surely not on them alone among the much larger number of investors taken in by the scheme.”