A B.C. real estate developer who used investors’ funds to buy presents for himself and his wife has been fined more than $1 million and banned for life from the province’s capital markets.
The B.C. Securities Commission (BSCS) has ordered Rodney Jack Wharram to pay a $500,000 fine on top of the $517,500 he obtained through fraud.
“In this case, the investor losses were significant,” the BCSC said in its ruling released on Monday (November 30).
“Wharram’s fraudulent misconduct was significant and repeatedly deceitful.”
Wharram had raised $9 million from investors for a golf club and townhome development in Chilliwack B.C. six years ago.
In 2009, he began shuffling money among three different companies he controlled to cover his personal expenses.
He used these funds, ranging from $130,000 to $265,000, to put toward the purchase of a home as well as jewelry and an investment on a grocery store for his wife.
The companies Wharram controlled, West Karma Ltd., the Falls Capital Corp. and Deercrest Construction, were also found jointly liable for the $517,500 their former president was ordered to pay back.
