Case Summary: Sharp v. Autorité Des Marchés Financiers

Background¹

In 2017, Québec's Autorité des marchés financiers ("AMF"), the province's financial sector regulator, brought an action against four British Columbia residents for their alleged involvement in transactional "pump–and-dump" securities manipulation schemes. The AMF alleged that the defendents promoted and gave a legitimate "face" to their shell company through misleading press releases and other marketing when, in reality, the business remained was essentially inoperative. These activities subsequently inflated the price of the company's shares. The defendants sold their shares and pocketed a profit of over $2.6 million.

Though the defendants resided in British Columbia, their scheme had several ties to Québec: the shell company was a Quebec reporting issuer with a Montréal business address, at one point a director was a Québec resident, the promotional activities of the company were accessible to Québec residents, and fifteen Québec investors lost a