The British Columbia Securities Commission has reached a settlement with a pair of Vancouver-based investment company managers who admitted to violating securities laws and breaching their duties as directors.

Under the settlement agreement, Vancouver residents Michael Patrick Lathigee and Earle Douglas Pasquill agreed to pay fines of $60,000 and $30,000, respectively, after admitting to illegally distributing securities and breaching their duties as directors and officers.

Lathigee also admitted to making misrepresentations to investors in a company newsletter and to illegally promoting an investment in a payroll loans company.

Lathigee and Pasquill are directors and officers of FIC Investment Ltd., WBIC Canada Ltd. and China Dragon Fund Ltd. (CDF). Neither man is registered to trade in securities in B.C.

Between October 2002 and December 2005, FIC, WBIC and CDF distributed securities worth a total of $12.7 million under various offering memoranda. On Dec. 22, 2005, the executive director issued a cease trade order against the investment funds because they did not meet exemption requirements. The order against FIC and WBIC was revoked in 2006 after the funds circulated an updated offering memoranda to investors.

Under the settlement agreement, CDF undertakes to complete its revised offering memoranda and offer rescission to investors by Aug. 31, 2007.

Lathigee and Pasquill contravened securities laws when they worked to distribute the funds during the period in question. Both men also admitted to breaching their duties as directors and officers when they received financial benefits from FIC and WBIC stock options without exercising them.