Man prohibited from financial markets 8 years ago charged with breaching ban, BCSC says

The TSX ticker is shown in Toronto on May 10, 2013. (Frank Gunn / The Canadian Press)

B.C.’s financial markets regulator says a man has been charged with failing to comply with an order it made eight years ago banning him from a variety of investment-related activities.

Marcel Anil Rada is scheduled to make his first appearance on the charges in North Vancouver provincial court on July 16, the B.C. Securities Commission said in a news release Wednesday.

According to the commission, the 59-year-old allegedly acted as a director or officer of an issuer of securities between 2017 and 2015, despite being permanently banned from doing so.

Online court records show Rada has been charged with two counts of contravention of B.C.’s Securities Act. The offence dates are listed as Oct. 5, 2017 and May 5, 2021.

A BCSC panel permanently banned Rada from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer in 2017.

The ban was imposed based on a 2011 decision by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. In that decision, the organization accepted a settlement with Rada in which he admitted to a variety of misconduct.

Rada admitted that he had raised $205,000 from people who were looking to invest in two different issuers of securities, without disclosing that the issuers would pay nearly all of this money – some $175,000 – to Rada.

He also admitted to “facilitating participation in off-book transactions without the knowledge and consent of his employer;” issuing a cheque to repay a loan to an issuer from an account that he knew or ought to have known had been closed two months earlier; and failing to co-operate with the IIROC’s investigative staff.

For this misconduct, he agreed to pay a $75,000 fine and $10,000 in costs, and to be permanently banned from reapproval by the IIROC in any capacity.

The BCSC imposed its prohibitions on Rada under a section of the Securities Act that allows it to recognize decisions from other regulatory bodies. The ban was intended to “protect investors and the capital markets in British Columbia,” according to the BCSC decision.

The charges against Rada have not been proven. If convicted, he could face “fines, imprisonment, probation and/or restitution orders,” according to the BCSC.