***Off topic***
Fix, I want you to have at least three good stiff drinks before you read this so that you don't hurt yourself.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
News out on JP's Stock Pick (Cartaway)
First Marathon Securities pays $500,000 to settle Cartaway Resources case
VANCOUVER, Jan. 29 /CNW/ - First Marathon Securities Ltd. has agreed to
donate $450,000 to a fund that fosters British Columbia mining and geological
expertise after acknowledging it breached B.C. securities regulations in the
Cartaway Resources Corp. case.
The Toronto-based First Marathon will pay the monies into the Mineral
Deposit Research Fund at the University of B.C. and another $50,000 to the
British Columbia Securities Commission toward the commission's investigation
costs, Commission Executive Director Michael Watson said today.
''We believe a contribution to the fund is appropriate because it
recognizes the harm done to the province's junior capital market by the
Cartaway case and mitigates a portion of the damage,'' said Watson.
In an Agreed Statement of Facts signed today, the investment dealer
acknowledged it failed to properly apply business procedures and failed to
ensure that its Vancouver branch manager Robert Disbrow carried out his duties
to properly supervise employees.
As a result, the dealer ''may have inadequately addressed the potential
conflicts of interest'' that arose among five of its Vancouver brokers, a
Calgary office employee, Cartaway and First Marathon's clients, the statement
said. The breaches and circumstances ''created an unacceptable risk that the
integrity of the capital markets might be compromised.''
A group of the investment dealer's brokers bought control of Cartaway, a
shell company on the Alberta Stock Exchange, in late 1994 and 1995. Cartaway
shares eventually rose to $26 in May 1996, but eventually dropped to about $2
a share after initially promising visual geological reports did not prove out.
First Marathon has taken remedial action, satisfactory to the commission,
to improve its compliance and supervision programs and procedures.
Among the actions are company rules requiring that:
- none of its employees will act in the legal role of a promoter for
any issuer;
- no employees individually or with others will buy or acquire a
corporate shell to obtain access to public market financing;
- employees must notify the company's vice-president of compliance
when their holdings of any public company reach five per cent of
issued and outstanding shares;
- the collective holdings of employees of any public company must not
exceed 19.9 per cent without the consent of the company's
vice-president of compliance.
Copies of the Agreed Statement of Facts are available on the commission's
web site (www.bcsc.bc.ca) or by phoning the commission's Communications
Manager.
The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government
agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts
in the province.
-30-
For further information: Michael Bernard, (604) 899-6500 or (BC only)
1-800-373-6393
|
