BCSC Panel Finds That B.C. Resident Committed Fraud On Three Investors

Recently in Re Dhanani, a British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) panel found that Ayaz Dhanani, a British Columbia resident, perpetrated a fraud on three investors. Dhanani had raised a total of $188,800 from three investors in exchange for promises to purchase shares in three resource companies that Dhanani claimed were about to go public. Dhanani promised each investor that their investments would increase significantly in value over a short period of time. No securities were ever purchased with the investors' money.

Section 57(b) of British Columbia's Securities Act, provides that a person must not, directly or indirectly, engage in or participate in conduct relating to securities if the person knows, or reasonably should know, that the conduct perpetrates a fraud on any person. The BCSC panel cited from the decision in Anderson v. British Columbia (Securities Commission), in which the British Columbia Court of Appeal held the actus reus of the offence of