News Release

Vancouver – The British Columbia Securities Commission has varied its orders in the case of an Internet-based investment club that was used to perpetrate a prime bank instrument fraud on B.C. investors after new evidence revealed the identities of some of those behind the scheme.

On Nov. 19, 2001, a commission panel issued a decision that permanently banned Tri-West Investment Club, Haarlem Universal Corp. and those holding themselves out as Jason Kingsley, Mark Goldman, Alan Richards and Alex Haarlem from the B.C. capital markets. They were also ordered to pay administrative penalties of $100,000 each.

The commission has varied the Nov. 19, 2001 orders to include a permanent ban against Alyn Richard Waage, Cary Alyn Waage and James Michael Webb from the B.C. capital markets. The trio has also been ordered to each pay an administrative penalty of $100,000. The three were added to the orders after evidence surfaced that they were among those behind the fraud.

In its decision released in October 2001, the commission found that the Tri-West investment program was a quintessential example of a prime bank instrument fraud. The panel had pointed out that these frauds claim to involve the purchase and sale of fully negotiable bank instruments of the top, or prime, world banks. In fact, neither the instruments, nor the markets on which they allegedly trade, exist.

Also in its 2001 decision and findings, the commission noted that, other than the references on the Tri-West website, there was no evidence that Kingsley, Goldman, Richards and Haarlem existed or, if so, whether the website references to their names and functions were accurate. The commission went on to say that the Tri-West program was carried out by those who may, or may not, be named Kingsley, Goldman, Richards and Haarlem.

It has been revealed that the individuals behind the Tri-West scheme included the two Waages and Webb, all of whom are currently incarcerated in California. In their separate plea agreements, they all admitted to participation in the Tri-West scheme to defraud investors. The plea agreements of Alyn Waage and Cary Waage also state that the names “Jason Kingsley”, “Mark Goldman”, “Alan Richards” and “Alex Haarlem” were fictitious names used to carry out the Tri-West scheme.

In 2001, another individual, John Byron -- a B.C. resident -- who had participated in the fraud by soliciting B.C. investors was banned from the B.C. capital markets for eight years and he faced an administrative penalty of $10,000.

At least 17 B.C. residents invested US$100,000 in Tri-West.

The B.C. Securities Commission is an independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province. The decision can be accessed through the commission’s website www.bcsc.bc.ca or by contacting Andrew Poon, Media Relations, 604-899-6880.