News Release

Released: 05/11/00 Contact: Dean Pelkey
(604) 899-6880 or
(BC only) 1-800-373-6393

Vancouver, B.C. – The British Columbia Securities Commission has banned John Pyper from trading securities for five years and ordered the former equity analyst to pay $27,000 in penalties and costs associated with the hearing into his conduct.

The ban comes after a commission panel in March 2000 found Pyper contravened the Securities Act in April and May 1997 by engaging in the practice of frontrunning.

On four occasions in 1997, while employed by a Vancouver based portfolio manager, Pyper personally sold short shares of thinly traded companies and, before covering his short position, followed up with sales of blocks of shares of the same companies that were owned by his employer’s clients.

The sales of the clients’ investments were conducted in a manner intended to depress the price of the shares, enabling Pyper to later cover his short position at a profit, which he did in each instance. In each of the four cases, the price of the shares declined after he made his personal short sale, allowing him to cover his short sales at a profit that totalled approximately $13,000 before commissions.

In making its decision, the panel noted that, while Pyper’s career may have been “devastated” by reason of his becoming unemployable in his chosen field, the seriousness of his conduct required that orders be made in the public interest.

Copies of the Commission’s findings and its decision in this matter are available on the Commission’s website (www.bcsc.bc.ca) or by contacting Media Relations Officer Dean Pelkey. The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts within the province.