Wesley Weber of Toronto has pled guilty to violating securities laws by trading while prohibited by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the commission announced Thursday.
In 2011, the OSC banned Weber from trading in securities for 15 years, after it found he breached securities law by engaging in unregistered trading and advising with his firm, Goldbridge Financial Inc., by offering unregistered day trading.
Weber breached the OSC’s 2011 order through his significant involvement in Incryptex Ltd., a start-up attempting to act as an exchange between digital and conventional currencies, the OSC says in a release.
“Using the alias ‘Wesley Kam’, Weber accepted funds for investment in Incryptex and took steps to have the company listed on a public exchange by arranging for shares in Incryptex to be issued. Weber also oversaw the creation of presentations to solicit investments by Ontario investors in Incryptex,” the OSC says. “Weber’s activities with Incryptex were in clear violation of the 2011 order, which remains in place.”
Weber pled guilty before Justice McLeod of the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto on Jan. 21. His next appearance to set a date for sentencing is slated for March 25.
The charges follow an investigation by the OSC’s Joint Serious Offences Team, which is an enforcement partnership between the commission, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Financial Crime program and the Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets Branch.