News Release
Vancouver couple banned for 10 years for selling bogus investment they claimed was backed by the German Consulate
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Date:
2002-05-28 -
Number:
2002/36
Vancouver – The BC Securities Commission has barred a Vancouver couple from securities markets for 10 years after they admitted selling limited partnerships in a bogus foreign currency investment scheme with interests in two Vancouver apartment blocks.
Peter Hans Simon and Sybille Anita Simon sold investors the scheme and limited partnerships in the Lord Nelson Apartments and the Ashnola Apartments in Vancouver between January 1997 and 1998. The couple said the scheme was backed by the German Consulate and had a guaranteed monthly rate of return. They promised investors that if they did not sell a certain number of partnership interests, their money would be returned to them.
The couple admitted that none of the representations they made were true and that there was no such scheme. The properties were never purchased and the Simons never made good on their promise to reimburse investors. In September 1999, the couple pled guilty in court to criminally defrauding three investors of $84,500 in selling them limited partnerships with interests in the apartments. They were imprisoned for 60 days and ordered to repay their victims.
In the commission settlement, the Simons admitted to a number of Securities Act violations including:
· that they traded in securities and advised people in BC without being registered
· that they did not file a prospectus for the investments.
Another condition of the settlement requires that the Simons repay their fraud victims.
The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts within British Columbia. The agreement is posted at www.bcsc.bc.ca or can be obtained by contacting Media Relations Officer Andrew Poon.