Michelle Dunk of Waterloo, Ont., has been found guilty of fraud, unregistered trading, trading without a prospectus and breaching a cease trade order in connection with the sale of promissory notes to investors, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has announced.
Her conviction follows following an investigation and prosecution by the OSC’s Joint Serious Offences Team, which is an enforcement partnership between the OSC, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Ontario Provincial Police.
Dunk was convicted on April 23 after a court in Kitchener, Ont. found that she was involved in selling promissory notes related to Rocky Point Energy to investors, including a senior citizen and members of her church.
Some of the notes, which the court ruled were securities, promised 15% returns over a very short term (as few as 45 days).
The court found Dunk’s representations to some investors that their investments were “100% secure” to be “entirely false,” the OSC says in a news release.
As a result of the fraud, investors lost almost $90,000 and US$70,000, the OSC reports. Other than returning $1,000 to a single investor, no other funds were recovered.
Dunk is due back in court on April 27 to set a date for her sentencing in the case.