The Supreme Court of British Columbia has ordered a man who perpetrated one of the province’s largest investment frauds to pay the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) annual payments from two of his registered accounts.<\/p>\n
Earle Pasquill, who owes the BCSC $36.7 million, must forfeit to the regulator any payments from his two life income fund (LIF) accounts, the BCSC said in a release on Friday.<\/p>\n
The LIF accounts totalled $551,349 as of April 2024, and Pasquill withdraws about $75,000 annually from the accounts, the release said.<\/p>\n
“Any payments the BCSC receives from [the LIFs] will be made available to victims of the fraud,” the regulator said in the release.<\/p>\n
The decision follows amendments in 2023 to B.C.’s Pension Benefits Standards Act and the Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act to make clear that certain pension-derived funds aren’t exempt from enforcement processes, the release said.<\/p>\n
In 2014, a BCSC panel found that Pasquill and Michael Lathigee, who jointly directed and controlled the Freedom Investment Club, defrauded investors<\/a> of $21.7 million in 2008 through a real estate development scheme.<\/p>\n Pasquill is liable for that amount as well as an administrative penalty of $15 million.<\/p>\n He has paid none of the sanctions, the release said.<\/p>\n