The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has found that Dale St. Jean, Gregory Tindall and their Calgary-based companies, TransCap Corp. and Strata-Trade Corp, breached Alberta securities laws and acted contrary to the public interest by making material misleading or untrue statements to investors and perpetrating a fraud on Alberta investors.
An ASC panel also ruled that St. Jean and Strata-Trade breached filing requirements and that Tindall concealed or withheld information reasonably required for an ASC investigation.
The ASC panel found that payments to TransCap and Strata-Trade investors were funded from their own and their fellow investors’ money, “by definition, an unsustainable ‘Ponzi’ scheme”.
The ASC panel stated: “Investors (Albertans among them) having been lured by deceptive or false information into investing in a Ponzi scheme, their pecuniary interests were placed at serious risk. Indeed, there appears to be no money remaining to pay them any interest owing or repay their principal investments.”
According to the ASC panel’s decision, between March 1, 2005 and Dec. 10, 2009, TransCap and Strata-Trade raised approximately $52 million from investors, who were promised safe investments with lucrative returns of 15% to 22%.
ASC staff and the named parties have until May 27 to inform the ASC panel whether they propose to introduce additional evidence, or to make submission on what orders ought to be made against the named parties.