A U.S. company that agreed to a settlement with the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC), which included a five-trading ban, says that its own securities were inadvertently cease traded by Canadian regulators as a result.
On March 17, Quantum Materials Corp. (OTC:QTMM) and its CEO agreed to a deal with the BCSC to settle allegations that it has distributed to securities to investors in B.C. while its securities were subject to a cease trade order (CTO). The settlement imposed certain sanctions, including that the company cease trading in securities for five years.
At the same time, the company sought to have the CTO on its own securities lifted, so that B.C.-based shareholders could trade its securities. And, the firm announced that the BCSC agreed to revoke the CTO against Quantum’s securities.
Yet, when the BCSC published the settlement agreement and distributed a copy of its order to the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the company says that the CSA “misinterpreted the content of the order and erroneously posted a notice on its website” indicating that there is a ban on trading in Quantum shares, rather than a ban on trading by Quantum.
The company says that the CSA promptly corrected its error, but that it had already resulted in a trading stop by Knight Capital, a leading stock clearing company. It says that Knight Capital has promised that the situation will be corrected as soon as possible.