OSC target Mark Valentine now stands accused of violating an OSC cease trade order by opening a Refco futures account, and trading in it right up to his Bermuda Short arrest. He hopes to persuade a Miami judge next week he is trustworthy. more...
Ontario Securities Commission - Street Wire
OSC target Valentine faces busy schedule
Ontario Securities Commission *OSC
Tuesday January 7 2003 Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
A Miami judge next week will hear Mark Valentine's application for bail modification and decide whether the controversial Bay Street penny stock broker can be trusted to travel to Toronto, return to U.S. soil, and abide by all conditions placed by a American federal court. News of the Florida court date setting comes as the Ontario Securities Commission, in an unrelated case, claims Mr. Valentine blatantly violated a commission cease trade order last summer, opening an futures account in which he traded right up to his Bermuda Short arrest at the Frankfurt airport in Germany.
Mr. Valentine's bid for bail variation will be heard next Monday, Jan. 13, by Judge Wilkie Ferguson of United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Mr. Valentine is currently out on a $500,000 personal bond, secured by his and his in-law's luxury condominiums in Key Biscayne, Fla., and a $30,000 corporate surety bond. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Mr. Valentine was also ordered to surrender his passport, to stay at all times within Miami-Dade and Broward counties, to reside at his Key Biscayne condo, to stay home all night, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and to wear an electronic monitoring anklet.
In a problematical development, which may have some bearing in the Miami court hearing, the OSC released an amended statement of allegations against him on Monday. The Canadian regulator claims Mr. Valentine breached a temporary cease trade order it imposed on him on July 8, 2002.
"In the period between July 25, 2002 and August 16, 2002, Valentine traded in securities not exempted in the July Order. Specifically, between July 26, 2002 and August 16, 2002, the respondent opened an account at Refco Futures (Canada) Ltd., in Toronto, Ontario and traded in futures contracts listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange," states the OSC.
"On August 16, 2002, after it was publicly reported that Valentine had been arrested in Germany by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States, authorities at Refco advised Staff of the Commission of the existence of Valentine's account at Refco and he ceased trading in the account."
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, Blair Valentine, also of Toronto but no known relation to Mark Valentine, appears to be the latest Canadian target in the Bermuda Short sting preparing to cut a guilty plea deal. In a Jan. 3 court filing, a "change of plea" hearing has been set for Blair Valentine for Jan. 22 in front of Judge Daniel Hurley in Miami.
Blair Valentine, 47, has been held without bail since his Bermuda Short arrest on Aug. 14, 2002.
Although the bulk of the Bermuda Short sting defendants, like Mark Valentine, are charged with conspiring to bribe a crooked fund manager, and others are charged with purported cocaine money laundering, Blair Valentine faces a separate charge, furnishing false and altered passports. U.S. authorities claim Blair Valentine forwarded passport photographs to a co-conspirator on March 13, 2002, and delivered a false American passport to an individual in Boca Raton, Fla., on April 16, 2002, and a false and altered French passport to an individual in Boca Raton on June 7, 2002.
"It was the object of the conspiracy to furnish false and altered passports to individuals for use by those individuals to facilitate the laundering of money," states the grand jury indictment.
None of Blair Valentine's customers, co-conspirators or associates have yet been identified in court.
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