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To: alan holman who wrote (28097)	2/1/1999 11:27:00 AM
From: alan holman	Respond to of 28369

January 29, 1999 19:32 Canada brokerage pays C$500,000 for role in scandal TORONTO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The brokerage arm of Canada's First Marathon Inc. agreed on Friday to pay C$500,000 for its involvement in a 1996 mining scandal that bilked millions from investors across North America. Toronto-based First Marathon Securities Ltd., Canada's largest independent brokerage, was fined C$4 million last year by the Toronto Stock Exchange and C$250,000 by the Alberta Securities Commission for its role in promoting former stock market darling Cartaway Resources Corp. Ontario-based Cartaway electrified stock markets in early 1996 after reporting promising drill results from a mining property near the massive Voisey's Bay nickel project in northern Labrador, Newfoundland. Voisey's Bay, now owned by Canadian nickel giant Inco Ltd. , set off a wild prospector's rush as hundreds of companies and thousands of investors clamored for a piece of Canada's next big mining discovery. Cartaway later admitted its results had been grossly exaggerated, prompting the company's stock to plummet from C$21 to C$2 a share in one day of trading on the tiny Alberta Stock Exchange. The stock traded at C$0.005 a share on Friday on the ASE. Regulators had alleged several former First Marathon employees quietly bought cheap shares of Cartaway and then engaged in a series of unethical transactions as the stock skyrocketed in value. First Marathon, which played an important role in the financing of Cartaway, conceded on Friday that its employees had "failed to apply proper business procedures to ensure the integrity of capital markets." The brokerage said it had taken corrective steps and agreed to pay C$50,000 to the British Columbia Securities Commission and C$450,000 to the Mineral Deposit Research Fund at the University of British Columbia. "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 B.C. Securities Commission Executive Director Michael Watson. First Marathon said the settlement concluded its regulatory proceedings related to Cartaway. (