Robert Waters, a resident of British Columbia and a former investment adviser, has been involved in the illegal distribution of securities, a British Columbia Securities Commission panel has found.
Waters sold shares in Berkeley Coffee & Tea Inc. to 45 investors in April 2011 without being registered or having filed a prospectus.
He raised a total of $312,977.
Waters did not deny that he distributed the securities without being registered or having filed a prospectus, but he did say that Berkeley had assured him that these steps were not necessary.
“Waters testified that he believed that the prospectus filed by Berkeley with the SEC would qualify the shares for distribution ‘anywhere in North America,’” the panel wrote in its findings.
“We wonder how an individual who was a registered investment adviser for 15 years in British Columbia could reach that conclusion.”
Sanctions have yet to be announced.
