Canada to Crack Down on Securities Abuse
Jun 16, 2003 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) -- (FinancialWire) While brokerages such as E*Trade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET), Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH) are among those accused by one or more of some 88 public companies with failing to settle trades and providing cover to naked short selling activities, which is illegal in the U.S., Canada is getting serious about capital markets abuse.
Canada's justice minister has introduced new laws in Parliament to quell capital markets fraud, including increased sentences, corporate whistleblower protection and insider trading regulatrions. The government also plans to set up nine market enforcement teams.
"We all look forward to more dramatic and swift action against those who violate securities laws," said Michael Bernard, spokesman for the British Columbia Securities Commission.
B.C.'s Securities Fraud Office was shuttered a few years back.
The first year, two teams will be launched in Toronto and one in Vancouver, on a budget of $120 million.
Canadian commercial crime probes are known for long delays, so the focus will be on speeding up the process.
By contrast, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently stunned U.S. public company executives and shareholders alike by turning down one of the few protections many have been able to wield against rampant and flagrant short-selling abuses - withdrawal from the mostly ineffective electronic trading system managed by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.
A protest rally is scheduled the morning of June 23 in Times Square by affected shareholders.
Some 88 public companies have been “taking actions to ensure the integrity of the market in (their) publicly traded securities and to combat suspected naked short selling activity in their shares. There are 101 public companies that have so far been touched by the growing national financial scandal.
Some thirteen on the list of 101, such as A.G. Edwards, Inc. (NYSE: AGE), Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), E*Trade Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET), FleetBoston (NYSE: FBF), Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE: GS), Knight Securities, LP (NASDAQ: NITE), Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., Inc. (AMEX: LHS), M. H. Myerson & Co., Inc. (NASDAQ: MHMY), Olde / H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Toronto-Dominion's (NYSE: TD), TD Waterhouse Group and vFinance, Inc. (OTCBB: VFIN), have been accused by one or more public companies as allegedly participating in short selling activities or abuses, or of failing to settle trades.
The remaining 87 companies have issued press releases or been named in press releases as taking various actions, either alone or in concert with other companies, to oppose manipulative trading in the form of illegal naked short selling. The actions have ranged from lawsuits to withdrawals and threatened withdrawals from the electronic trading system managed by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., to withdrawals from toxic financings, to the issuance of dividends or name changes designed to squeeze manipulators, to joining associations or networks or to contacting regulatory authorities to provide documentation of abuses or otherwise complain.
The complete list of those 88 companies include Advanced Viral Research Corp. (OTCBB: ADVR), AdZone Research, Inc. (OTCBB: ADZR), American Ammunition, Inc. (OTCBB: AAMI), ATSI Communications, Inc. (OTC: ATSC), Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. “Farmer Mac" (NYSE: AGM), Allied Capital (NYSE: ALD), American Motorcycle (OTC: AMCYV), American International Industries (OTCBB: AMIN), Ameri-Dream (OTC: AMDR), Adirondack Pure Springs Mt. Water Co. (OTCBB: APSW), Auxer Group, Inc. (OTCBB: AXGI), Bluebook International (OTCBB: BBIC), Blue Industries (OTCBB: BLIIV), Bentley Communications (OTCBB: BTLY), BIFS Technologies Corporation (OTCBB: BIFT), Biocurex (OTCBB: BOCX). Chattem, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTT), Critical Home Care (OTCBB: CCLH), Composite Holdings (OTC: COHIA), Diamond International Group (OTCBB: DMND), Dobson Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: DCEL), Eagle Tech Communications (OTC: EATC), Edgetech Services (OTCBB: EDGH);
Also, Endovasc Ltd. (OTCBB: EVSC), Enviro-Energy Corporation (OTCBB: ENGY), Environmental Products & Technologies (OTC: EPTC), eResearchTechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERES), Flight Safety Technologies (OTCBB: FLST), Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), FreeStar Technologies (OTCBB: FSRCE), Genesis Intermedia (OTC: GENI), GeneMax Corp. (OTCBB: GMXX), Global Path (OTCBB: GBPI), Group Management (OTCBB: GPMT), Hop-On (OTC: HPON), H-Quotient, Inc., (OTCBB: HQNT), Hyperdynamics Corp. (OTCBB: HYPD), International Biochem (OTCBB: IBCL), Intergold Corp. (OTCBB: IGCO), International Broadcasting Corporation (OTCBB: IBCS), InternetStudios, Inc. (OTCBB: ISTO), ITIS Holdings (OTCBB: ITHH), Investco Corp. (OTCBB: IVCO), Jag Media Holdings (OTCBB: JGMHA), Lair Holdings (OTC: LAIR), Lifeline BioTechnologies Inc. (OTC: LBTT), Life Energy & Technology (OTCBB: LETH), MBIA (NYSE: MBI);
Also, MetaSource Group, Inc. (OTCBB: MTSR), Midastrade.com (OTC: MIDS), Make Your Move (OTCBB: MKMV), MSM Jewelry Corp. (OTC: MSMC), Nanopierce Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: NPCT), Nutra Pharmaceutical (OTCBB: NPHC), Nutek (OTCBB: NUTK), Navigator Ventures (OTC: NVGV), Pitts & Spitts (OTC: PSPP), Sales OnLine Direct (OTCBB: PAID), Pacel Corp. (OTCBB: PACC), PayStar Corporation (OTC: PYST), Petrogen Corp. (OTCBB: PTGC), Pinnacle Business Management (OTC: PCBM), Premier Development & Investment, Inc. (OTCBB: PDVN), PrimeHoldings.com, Inc. (OTC: PRIM), Phlo Corporation (OTCBB: PHLC), Resourcing Solutions (OTC: RESG), Reed Holdings (OTC: RDHC), Rocky Mountain Energy Corp. (OTCBB: RMECE), RTIN Holdings (OTCBB: RTNHE), Saflink Corp. (NASDAQ: SFLK), Safe Travel Care (OTCBB: SFTVV), Sedona Corp. (OTCBB: SDNA);
Also, Sionix Corp. (OTCBB: SINX), Starmax Technologies (OTC: SMXIF), Suncomm Technologies (OTC: STEH), Sports Resorts International (NASDAQ: SPRI), Technology Logistics (OTC: TLOS), Ten Stix, Inc. (OTCBB: TNTI), Tidelands Oil (OTCBB: TIDE), Titan Construction (OTC: TTCS), Trezac Corp. (OTCBB: TREZE), Universal Express, Inc. (OTCBB: USXP), Valesc Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: VLSHV), Vega Atlantic (OTCBB: VGAC), Vista Continental Corporation, (OTCBB: VICC), Vtex Energy (OTCBB: VXENE) and Wizzard Software (OTCBB: WIZD).and WorldTradeShow.com (OTC: WTSW).
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