An Ontario Securities Commission panel has ordered substantial monetary sanctions against Crown Hill Capital Corporation and Wayne Lawrence Pushka for breaches of their fiduciary duty under the Securities Act.
In addition to monetary sanctions in excess of $20 million, says OSC, trading and registration bans have been imposed for ten years (or until the monetary sanctions are paid to the Commission).
This “decision demonstrates the OSC’s commitment to ensuring fund managers, entrusted with investor’s money, are abiding by their fiduciary duty,” says Tom Atkinson, director of enforcement at OSC.
“It also sends a clear message [that] the Commission doesn’t shy away from ordering large monetary penalties,” he adds, “when the amounts obtained are a result of non-compliance with Ontario securities law and abusing the trust of investors.”
The decision follows an earlier decision, dated August 23, 2013, where an OSC panel held that Crown Hill, as investment fund manager, and Pushka, as the directing mind and sole shareholder of Crown Hill, committed multiple breaches of their fiduciary duty. OSC says they acted contrary to the public interest.
In addition to ordering disgorgement in the amount of $18,237,047, the OSC panel also ordered Crown Hill and Pushka to pay administrative penalties in the aggregate amount of $1,875,000, as it noted disgorgement alone didn’t provide sufficient deterrence.