Bahamas-based Gibraltar Global Securities Inc. has received a cease-trade order from a British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) panel, the regulator has announced.
The panel issued the cease-trade order against Gibraltar for trading and advising in securities in B.C. without being registered, and for refusing to provide BCSC staff with information relating to B.C. residents who have held accounts with the company.
According to the BCSC, Gibraltar provides offshore securities brokerage, investment management and advisory services.
The panel found that the company carried out trades and provided securities advice on behalf of B.C. residents without being registered to do so. It also found that the company’s continued refusal to provide BCSC staff with the names, account information and account statements for all B.C. residents who have beneficially held accounts with Gibraltar made the company “unsuitable to engage in securities related activities in, or connected with, British Columbia.”
According to the regulator, several of Gibraltar’s B.C. clients were subjects of past and ongoing investigations by the BCSC. One has been convicted of wire fraud and securities fraud in the U.S. and another is the subject of a BCSC investigation for market manipulation that involved the deposit of securities in a Gibraltar account by a B.C. reporting issuer.
On August 5, 2011, the BCSC issued a freeze order against Gibraltar’s accounts at Vancouver brokerage firm Global Securities Corp., freezing approximately $2.2 million. In its decision, the panel refused Gibraltar’s application to revoke the freeze order.
