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Microcap & Penny Stocks : TGL WHAAAAAAAT! Alerts, thoughts, discussion. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SSP who wrote (10398)	9/24/1999 4:24:00 PM
From: elcasmirb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 150070

This is not what we want to hear! VANCOUVER - As the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission broadens its crackdown on microcap stock frauds to include Canadian brokers, Canaccord Capital Corp. of Vancouver has come down hard on its own brokers handling these over-the-counter Bulletin Board stocks. In an internal memo, Peter Brown, Canaccord, chairman disclosed that the firm had fired one broker and suspended a second for ignoring the firm's tough three-year-old rules on handling stocks in the U.S. OTC market. "We really believe that it is fundamentally the most crooked market in the world," Mr. Brown said in an interview. "We don't like the market, we don't like dealing in it, period." At least three Vancouver brokerage houses have been named (but not charged) in stock fraud cases that involved trading in OTC stock by brokers they formerly employed. Mr. Brown said that Michael Johnson, the president of the Vancouver Stock Exchange, recently warned member brokers to expect to see other Vancouver brokerage houses named in future SEC actions. Mr. Johnson was not available for comment. Early this year, the B. C. Securities Commission began to research the scope of Bulletin Board trading through Vancouver firms, getting the trading blotters from 15 firms that covered about five months of activity. "The OTC Bulletin Board has been an issue of concern to us for some time," Michael Bernard, BCSC spokesman, said, adding that other Canadian regulators also are increasingly alarmed at the activities in the market. The SEC began what it calls an "examination sweep" of microcap trading activities in January 1998, focusing on broker-dealers in New York, South Florida, Colorado and Utah where the SEC says the most fraudulent trading is found. Indictments arising from this sweep named brokerage firms on both sides of the border that were being used for trading accounts in alleged stock manipulations. The Vancouver firms drawn in so far include Pacific International Securities Inc., Union Securities Ltd. and Wolverton Securities Ltd. There are no allegations of wrongdoing against the firms. An investigative officer of one Canadian securities commission, asking not to be named, admitted to being frustrated with the continued light regulation of the Bulletin Board at a time when trading there is exploding. "It approximates the level of regulation enjoyed by Vancouver in the 1960s," he said. "It is unregulated and it gives the appearance of a market dominated by promoters and brokers. There have been very significant regulatory measures here in Vancouver at no small cost to the business," he added. "I've seen it migrate to the lower standards in the U.S." In August Pacific International imposed stringent rules for its staff regarding the Bulletin Board after two of its former brokers were indicted for fraud in another U.S. action. Canaccord has comparable rules in place, including the banning of short selling in these securities; the banning of a transfer of funds or securities by non-resident clients to third parties; and the refusal to take U.S. cheques for securities or to extend credit. Mr. Brown reminded his brokers to play careful attention to the "know your client" rule. "There are so many problems that have occurred with Bulletin Board trading that it is incumbent on every salesman to take every precaution to ensure that they are meeting all the securities regulations in both the U.S. and Canada," Mr. Brown wrote.