The Vancouver Provincial Court has sentenced admitted securities fraudster Ayaz Dhanani to 36 months in prison, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) announced Friday.
The court also ordered Dhanani, 38, of Vancouver, to pay almost $200,000 in restitution to five victims, and to serve 36 months on probation after being released from prison.
Last month, Dhanani was ordered to spend 23 months in jail after pleading guilty to fraudulently soliciting $153,800 worth of investments from three B.C.-based investors.
This week he received an additional 13 months in jail, after admitting to another fraud involving a fourth investor, and to three other offences involving a fifth investor (including defying a BCSC cease trade order, failing to file a prospectus, and misleading an investor).
“Dhanani preyed upon people’s lack of knowledge about investments,” says Peter Brady, executive director of the BCSC, in a news release. “He made promises about businesses or opportunities that simply did not exist.”
In 2016, Dhanani was permanently banned from trading by the BCSC, along with other sanctions, in connection with fraud allegations.
The BCSC says that these latest charges stem from a series of investigations by its Criminal Investigations Branch.