The BC Securities Commission (BCSC) has permanently banned two people from unrelated criminal cases from BC’s investment market.
One of the individuals is a Victoria man, Randolph Michael Rochefort, who pleaded guilty in November 2022 to four counts of theft over $5,000.
As part of his plea, he must serve a conditional sentence of nearly two years under house arrest and a curfew, and must also pay around $77,000 in restitution to five victims.
According to the BCSC, From 2013 to 2016, Rochefort brokered several transactions for investors who had previously bought securities of a real estate investment company for which he was acting as a salesperson.
However, instead of forwarding all the investors' funds to the company, as he promised to do, Rochefort used some of the funds for personal expenses and cash withdrawals.
The second person is a woman from Southern California.
Sharief Deona McDowell pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in US federal court in Los Angeles, and was sentenced to more than five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $2.4 million USD.
The BCSC said McDowell admitted that she intentionally defrauded at least 28 investors, including a BC resident, between 2018 and 2022 by falsely claiming that she would invest their money in commodity futures and options contracts.
“As part of the scheme, McDowell started a purported investment company that she controlled,” explained the BCSC. “Instead of buying futures and options contracts, she used the funds to pay for personal expenses and gifts for others, and to make payments to other investors that she falsely claimed to be disbursements from their accounts.”
She also fabricated trade confirmations and accounts statements to deceive the investors into thinking their investments were generating returns.
McDowell had already been subject to a previous judicial order, the result of a 2011 lawsuit filed against her by the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
Both Rochefort and McDowell must resign any position they hold as a director or officer of an issuer or registrant, and are permanently prohibited from trading in or purchasing any securities or derivatives. The BCSC noted that Rochefort is able to trade in accounts in his own name, with a person registered to trade securities.
They may not advise on activities in the securities or derivatives markets, engage in promotional activities involving securities or derivatives, or rely on any exemptions in the Securities Act.
According to the agency, the BC orders against Rochefort and McDowell are automatically reciprocated in most other Canadian provinces and territories.
