A 38-year-old Vancouver man has been sentenced to 36 months in jail for selling fraudulent investments and other securities-related crimes, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) said Friday.
Ayaz Dhanani was also ordered to pay $194,568 in restitution to five victims, and will be on probation for a total of 36 months upon his release from prison, a BCSC release said. Dhanani pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud over $5,000 and three offences under the BC Securities Act.
The charges and sanctions are the result of investigations by the BCSC’s Criminal Investigations Branch in relation to four of the victims, the release said.
Dhanani pleaded guilty in August to “fraudulently soliciting a total of $153,800 in investments from three B.C. residents,” and in October to another fraud over $5,000 in relation to a fourth B.C. resident.
The Vancouver Provincial Court sentenced him to 23 months in jail for the first three counts and a further 13 months for the fourth, the release said.
“Dhanani preyed upon people’s lack of knowledge about investments,” said Peter Brady, BCSC’s executive director, in the release. “He made promises about businesses or opportunities that simply did not exist.”
The release notes the BCSC has previously sanctioned Dhanani for fraud. In 2016, he was ordered to pay an administrative penalty of $225,000 and was prohibited from trading, among other sanctions. The BCSC recovered $120,000 from Dhanani to distribute to three investors affected by that fraud activity.