Securities regulators have reached settlement agreements on Tuesday with a man in British Columbia who admitted to improperly distributing securities and providing misleading information to compliance.

Winston King-Loong Kuit is facing two separate sets of sanctions from the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA).

According to the settlement agreement with the BCSC, from August 2010 to September 2014, Kuit worked as a “finder” for SBC Financial Group Inc., a B.C.-based firm that had failed to ever file a prospectus during that time frame — a requisite for distributing securities.

As a finder for SBC, Kuit drew in approximately $2.4 million from investors — of which $1.8 million of those distributions don’t qualify for exemptions set out in the Securities Act, provided that prospectus requirements are met.

The BCSC ordered ordered Kuit to disgorge $147,500, an amount that represents the commissions he obtained while trading, advising and distributing securities as an unregistered advisor, in its decision. He’s also expected to pay $20,000 in settlements costs to the BCSC.

The settlement with BCSC also puts into effect a 15-year ban. Under these terms, which are subject to limited exceptions, Kuit is prohibited from trading or purchasing any securities, from relying on exemptions, from becoming or acting as a registrant or promoter, and from acting in a management or consultative capacity.

In the case before the MFDA, Kuit admitted that he solicited an estimated $1.55 million in investments in SBC between 2010 and August 2013 “outside the facilities of his MFDA member firms,” the decision states.

Although Kuit was registered under the Securities Act for much of the period in question, his registration category did not confer permission to trade in SBC securities.

The MFDA also heard Kuit’s admission that he had falsified or provided misleading information to compliance.

In the settlement reached with the MFDA, Kuit is banned permanently from trading in any capacity under the auspices of any MFDA member.

Both settlements note Kuit’s co-operation in settling the matters and his intention to use the proceeds from the sale of his home to cover a portion of the disgorgement order.

Photo copyright: serezniy/123RF