The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has found that a couple of unregistered companies and several people traded without registration and carried out an illegal distribution for their role in an alleged Ponzi scheme.
The OSC issued its decision Monday in a case against Simply Wealth Financial Group Inc., K&S Global Wealth Creative Strategies Inc., and several individuals, following a three-day hearing back in January.
The commission found that the two firms, neither of which were registered, their directors, and several others, traded without registration and effected an illegal distribution by facilitating investments in Gold-Quest International, a company that pledged high returns on foreign exchange investments.
Back in 2010, the Alberta Securities Commission permanently cease-traded Gold-Quest, and sanctioned numerous individuals a total of $4.1 million, after finding that it was “a sham investment scheme, a classic Ponzi scheme and a classic pyramid scheme”, that raised approximately US$29 million from more than 2,900 investors.
Sanctions were not handed down Monday; they will follow in a separate hearing.