A B.C. lawyer who bought securities in a mining company while it was engaged in an acquisition has been sanctioned by the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC).
According to a BCSC panel, Kjeld Werbes bought shares in Global Uranium Corp. with knowledge of the company’s acquisition of a mining property before that information was made public.
Global had retained Werbes in March 2010 to draft an acquisition agreement. The acquisition was disclosed on April 16, 2010, according to the BCSC. Werbes bought 20,000 Global shares two days earlier.
The BSCS said Werbes admitted that his purchase contravened the Securities Act against illegal insider trading. However, the disciplinary panel described Werbes’ conduct as careless but not intentional.
“Werbes failed to meet the expectation that securities lawyers who become privy to undisclosed material information in the course of representing public companies will not trade on that information, no matter what,” the panel noted.
Werbes has been barred from trading or buying any securities or exchange contracts of any company with whom he is in a special relationship for one year and was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.
