News Release

Released: 10/17/00 Contact: Dean Pelkey
NR 00-45 (604) 899-6880 or
(BC only) 1-800-373-6393

Vancouver -- Vancouver stock promoter David Michael Patterson has agreed to pay the British Columbia Securities Commission $50,000 after he failed to report a series of insider trades made through an off-shore trust.

Patterson admitted he did not file insider-trading reports for trades he made through a British Virgin Islands company that involved four companies where he was an officer or director.

"Failure to report inside trades sends the investing public a message that that the markets are reserved for the privileged few with inside knowledge," said Stephen Wilson, BC Securities Commission's executive director.

"Officers and directors of publicly traded companies must adhere to insider trading regulations if investors are to have confidence in our markets."

As part of the agreement, Patterson is banned from the market for 15 months and must resign any positions he holds as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.

At various times throughout the 1990s, Patterson was an officer or director with the following companies: Donner Minerals Ltd., Crazy Horse Industries Inc., Allied Strategies Inc., Zicor Mining Inc., and Consolidated Valley Ventures Ltd. As an officer or director, he is considered an insider of these publicly traded companies and under B.C. securities regulations, he must report all personal trades in shares of these companies.

In 1990, Patterson set up a trust in his name through a company based in Jersey in the United Kingdom. Patterson included his wife, daughter, parents and in-laws as beneficiaries of the trust. Through the trust, Patterson acquired Bray International, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

Between 1990 and 1996, Patterson directed Bray through his trust to buy and sell shares in Donner Minerals Ltd., Crazy Horse Industries Inc., Allied Strategies Inc. and Zicor Mining Inc.

Patterson also failed to disclose his involvement with Bray to the Vancouver Stock Exchange during the purchase of warrants and shares through private placements in Allied and Consolidated Valley Ventures Ltd.

In the agreement, Patterson said he did not establish the trust in order to circumvent securities reporting obligations in B.C.

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 agreement can be viewed in the documents database of the commission’s website www.bcsc.bc.ca or by contacting Media Relations Officer Dean Pelkey at 899-6880.