A Vancouver resident who allegedly played a key role in a fraudulent $46 million pump-and-dump scheme involving three B.C. penny stock companies is now facing two criminal charges for allegedly breaching a commission freeze order after withdrawing funds from his bank account.
Yazan Al Homsi, 42, had his first appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court on May 22 to face one count of failing to comply with a decision made under the B.C Securities Act and one count of making a false or misleading statement or omitting facts necessary to make the statement not false or misleading, according to a B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) statement issued Friday.
Al Homsi allegedly withdrew funds from one bank account that was subject to a commission freeze order, which is intended to prevent a person from transferring property so that it can be used to pay any future financial sanctions imposed by a commission panel.
The two criminal charges have not been proven in court; the commission stated if they are proven in court a conviction carries the possibility of fines, imprisonment, probation and/or restitution orders.
As an example, last December, a Vancouver man who withdrew $504,095 from his company’s bank accounts that had apparently been frozen by the commission was sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to failing to comply with a commission order.
Al Homsi a respondent in Core Capital Partners Inc. hearing
Al Homsi is one of six people facing allegations of orchestrating a significant pump-and-dump scheme.
Central to the alleged scheme is Core Capital Partners Inc. — which has denied the allegations — its sole director Kamaldeep Thindal, a Langley resident, and its CFO Amandeep Thindal, of Surrey.
As alleged, starting in July 2015 the group began accumulating a large share position of health-care technology firm Reliq Health Technologies, which had been trading on the TSX Venture Exchange and over-the-counter markets in the United States. They did so by replacing Reliq's board of directors and CEO with nominees under their control, as Amandeep Thindal became CFO and the bank signatory. By September 2017, the group amassed about a quarter of the company’s free-trading shares under hidden beneficial ownership structures.
The second-largest alleged net proceeds came from the promotion of Integrated Cannabis Company Inc., a cannabis firm traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange.
The third company that was allegedly used as a vehicle for fraud was Block One Capital Inc., formerly Essex Angel Capital Inc. (Essex Angel), and now known as AI Artificial Intelligence Ventures Inc., also traded on the TSX Venture Exchange.
The group, together and separately, obtained cheap shares of the companies and then allegedly concealed their control of them via relatives, corporations and nominees. The group allegedly coordinated misleading news releases and promotional campaigns to increase interest (the pump) in the stock before selling those concealed shares (the dump) during the promotions, for net proceeds of $46 million.
Following its investigation, the commission alleged Al Homsi netted $11.4 million in ill-gotten proceeds.
The allegations are administrative in nature and have not been proven before a commission panel.
In July 2024, Core issued a statement denying the allegations but also criticizing the commission’s process of “largely unchecked powers to freeze our assets for over four years without any allegation of wrongdoing.”
The company said it was “committed to maintaining and adhering to the highest levels of compliance and ethical business practices,” had worked transparently with the commission and “we had hoped to conclude this matter without the need for a public spectacle.”
The group faced a hearing that concluded earlier this year. The panel's findings are due May 26.
