News Release

Vancouver – A British Columbia Securities Commission panel has issued a cease trade order against a Bahamian company for trading and advising in securities in B.C. without being registered, and for refusing to provide BCSC staff with information relating to B.C. residents who have held accounts with the company.

The panel found that Gibraltar Global Securities Inc, a company registered in the Bahamas that provides offshore securities brokerage, investment management and advisory services, carried out trades and provided securities advice on behalf of B.C. residents without being registered to do so.

The panel also found that Gibraltar’s continued refusal to provide BCSC staff with the names, account information and account statements for all B.C. residents who have beneficially held accounts with Gibraltar made the company “unsuitable to engage in securities related activities in, or connected with, British Columbia”.

Several of Gibraltar’s B.C. clients were subjects of past and ongoing investigations by the BCSC. One has been convicted of wire fraud and securities fraud in the United States, and another is the subject of a BCSC investigation for market manipulation that involved the deposit of securities in a Gibraltar account by a B.C. reporting issuer.

On August 5, 2011, the BCSC issued a freeze order against Gibraltar’s accounts at Global Securities Corporation, a Vancouver brokerage firm, freezing approximately $2.2 million. In its decision, the panel refused Gibraltar’s application to revoke the freeze order.

The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province. You may view the decision on our website, www.bcsc.bc.ca, by typing Gibraltar or 2012 BCSECCOM 194 in the search box.  Information regarding disciplinary proceedings can be found in the Enforcement section of the BCSC website.

Please visit the Canadian Securities Administrators’ Disciplined Persons List for information relating to persons disciplined by provincial securities regulators, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA).

For media inquiries, contact Richard Gilhooley, media relations, 604-899-6713. For public inquiries, call 604 899 6854 or 1 800 373 6393 (toll free).

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