News Release

Released: 09/17/01 Contact: Andrew Poon
NR 01-41 (604) 899-6880 or
(BC only) 1-800-373-6393

Vancouver -- The British Columbia Securities Commission has permanently banned an individual with a history of violating U.S. securities laws from the B.C. securities market for manipulating the stock of a former Vancouver Stock Exchange-listed company.

Robert A. DiIanni, now believed to be living in Switzerland, has also been permanently prohibited from acting as a director or officer of any issuer and from engaging in investor relations activities.

The Commission found that in 1993, while acting as a consultant for Ralston Ltd. Partnership, DiIanni manipulated the share price of Annisquam Art Company Ltd. using accounts at Union Securities Ltd., a Vancouver broker-dealer. Annisquam was listed on the VSE (now Canadian Venture Exchange) and has since changed its name.

DiIanni was jailed in the U.S. in the 1990s for securities fraud and other offences carried out in that country. He was described by a U.S. court as a "recidivist" or an individual that, given the opportunity, would re-engage in actions prohibited by federal securities laws.

In making the orders, the Commission panel said that "DiIanni cannot be trusted to comply with securities laws," and that stock price manipulation “strikes at the heart of the pricing process on which all investors rely and undermines public confidence in the integrity of our capital markets.”

DiIanni has also been ordered to pay the costs of the hearing.

The BC Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts within the province. Copies of the decision and related notices can be viewed in the documents database of the commission’s website www.bcsc.bc.ca or by contacting Media Relations Officer Andrew Poon at (604) 899-6880.