News Release

Vancouver - A British Columbia Securities Commission panel have imposed sanctions against a former Vancouver-based securities salesperson who failed to ensure that certain speculative and illiquid investments were suitable for her clients.
 
The panel ordered Jill MacGregor Bock to pay a $25,000 administrative penalty for violating securities rules. The panel also decided she must not engage in investor relations activities or work in the exempt product market for three years. At the end of the three-year period, the order will continue unless and until the administrative penalty is paid and Bock is registered as a salesperson with a registrant.

On February 27, 2007, the panel found that Bock had contravened section 48 - the suitability rule - when she sold exempt investments to certain clients. She was employed by Foresight Capital Corp., a now-dissolved investment dealer that was headquartered in Burnaby. Bock worked for the firm out of her Vancouver office from 1998 to January 2001.

"We are satisfied that if Bock continued to sell exempt products, there would be a serious risk that she would engage in similar unacceptable conduct which would jeopardize the public interest," the panel said in their decision on sanctions. They emphasized the special role that registrants play in the regulatory system and investors' expectation of full regulatory compliance from them.

In a related matter, the panel decided it was not in the public interest to sanction Foresight. In its Feb. 27 findings, a majority of the panel found that, except for the firm not having met its working capital requirements for four months in 2002, BCSC staff had not proved their allegations against Foresight.

"Foresight submits, and we agree, that the deficiency arose innocently through administrative error and misunderstanding," the panel said. "Foresight provided several cases involving small companies and relatively small capital deficiencies. In these cases, the regulatory authority imposed fines only where the breaches were of a recurrent nature, or they were accompanied by more serious breaches."

The BC 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 in the search box, Jill MacGregor Bock or Foresight Capital Corp. or 2007 BCSECCOM 365. If you have questions, contact Ken Gracey, Media Relations, 604-899-6577.