News Release

NR 01-30 Contact: Michael Bernard
Released: 07/19/01 899-6880 or
1-800-373-6393 (BC only)

Vancouver – A man who urged B.C. residents to “explode your investment and savings portfolio” by investing in a dubious offshore bank debenture program has been barred for 18 months from the B.C. securities market by the B.C. Securities Commission.

In a settlement with the commission, Del Michel Albert Delisle also agreed to pay a total of $2,500 in penalties and investigation costs. He is prohibited from serving as an officer or director of any company for 18 months and until he takes a commission-approved course on the duties and responsibilities of officers and directors of companies. He also is banned from engaging in investor relations for 18 months.

Delisle, who did business as an unregistered firm, First Equity Capital, encouraged four B.C. residents to invest a total of about $12,000 US in the so-called bank debentures and received a $2,000 US referral fee from Tri-West. Delisle is not registered to sell securities in the province.

The Tri-West investing program, condemned and banned by several US securities regulators, offers “guaranteed” returns of up to 300 per cent a year. The BCSC issued a cease-trade order against Tri-West in April and has ordered a hearing into the scheme.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the RCMP have warned investors about fraudulent bank debenture trading programs and prime bank instrument schemes. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has labelled “bank debenture trading programs” as false and misleading and that the investment itself is a sham.

Securities regulators in Saskatchewan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Kansas, South Dakota and New Zealand have also issued cease trade orders against Tri-West for making unregistered offers of securities.

The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts within the province. Copies of the settlement can be viewed in the documents database of the commission’s website www.bcsc.bc.ca or by contacting Communications Manager Michael Bernard at (604) 899-6524.