A panel of the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) has revoked a temporary order against a fund dealer rep and her husband that the commission has alleged were involved in a Ponzi scheme.
Back in April, the executive director of the BCSC issued a notice of hearing and temporary orders against Yan Zhu (also known as Rachel Zhu), who is registered as a fund dealer rep and a life insurance agent, and her husband, Guan Qiang Zhang, and an unregistered company, Bossteam E-Commerce Inc. The BCSC said it had received two anonymous complaints alleging that the company was operating a Ponzi scheme.
The regulator’s notice alleged that the respondents appeared to have illegally distributed securities and perpetrated securities fraud, and it said that they lied to the commission’s investigators. None of the allegations against them have been proven.
The temporary orders issued in April prohibited trading in Bossteam E-Commerce securities and ordered Zhu and Zhang to cease all investor relations activities on behalf of Bossteam. The commission also made an order to freeze certain assets. The orders were extended in May.
At a hearing on July 18, the executive director of the BCSC asked the panel to extend the temporary orders. And, Zhu, Zhang and Bossteam applied to have the asset freeze order revoked.
On Friday, the commission announced that the panel refused both applications.
“We do not find that it is necessary and in the public interest to extend the temporary orders,” the panel said. It also dismissed the respondents’ application to revoke the freeze order.
Thus, the temporary order has been revoked, while the asset freeze order has been maintained.
The panel has not issued its reasons for the decision yet. Those are to follow at a later date.