The British Columbia Appeal Court has slashed a $6 million fine against disgraced former mutual fund dealer Ian Thow.

Thow, former senior vice president of Berkshire Investment Group Inc. in Victoria, still 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.

Until Thow’s resignation, he lived a lavish lifestyle, which included a waterfront home, three jets, a helicopter, a yacht and personal indulgences such as gambling trips to Las Vegas and $10,000 bottles of scotch.

In December 2007, the British Columbia Securities Commission fined him $6 million and banned him from the B.C. securities market for life.

Thow’s lawyer took the case to the B.C. Court of Appeal, arguing because Thow’s contraventions of occurred at a time when the BCSC authorized a maximum administrative penalty of only $250,000, any penalty in excess of that amount was outside the jurisdiction of the commission.

Lawyers for the BCSC acknowledged that Thow’s contraventions pre-dated the amendments that increased the maximum administrative penalty, but said the penalty could be applied retroactively.

In a unanimous decision, three Appeal Court justices disagreed with the commission’s lawyers.

In her written ruling, Justice Catherine Ryan wrote the commission wrongly decided it could increase the maximum administrative penalty authorized by 2006 legislation.

The court overturned the $6 million fine and substituted the maximum penalty allowed at the time of $250,000.

Thow has yet to appear in court to face the criminal charges.

IE