Two men who were directors and officers of a Vancouver-based group of companies are facing a hearing to answer allegations of fraud, according to the BC Securities Commission (BCSC).
In a notice of hearing, the BCSC alleges that Michael Patrick Lathigee and Earle Douglas Pasquill perpetrated a fraud on investors in companies belonging to the Freedom Investment Club (FIC), a group of companies jointly controlled and directed by Lathigee and Pasquill.
The companies in question are:
• WBIC Canada Ltd. (WBIC);
• FIC Real Estate Projects Ltd. (FIC Projects); and
• FIC Foreclosure Fund Ltd. (FIC Foreclosure).
Both Lathigee and Pasquill were residents of Vancouver during the relevant period.
The securities commission said in early 2008, FIC had taken on significant debt in relation to several Alberta real estate properties it had acquired and was attempting to develop. All of the loans included guarantees from other FIC companies.
According to the commission, Lathigee and Pasquill were aware that FIC as a whole was, in their words, “in a very bad situation” and “close to insolvency,” but chose to keep this information confidential and instead focused on raising money in an effort to “save” FIC.
Between February 1, 2008, and November 15, 2008, Lathigee, Pasquill, WBIC, FIC Projects and FIC Foreclosure aggressively promoted and distributed securities that they represented as individual investments: approximately $20 million was raised from over 600 investors in these three companies.
The notice alleges that Lathigee and Pasquill did not disclose that the FIC was close to insolvency and that the investments were therefore extremely risky, instead choosing to promote investments in their companies as spectacular opportunities with enormous profits, thereby perpetrating what the BCSC claims was a fraud on investors in the three companies.
These allegations have not been proven.
Hearings will be scheduled on March 20.
