BCSC panel issues lifetime ban against B.C. man for fraud and fines him $700,000

VANCOUVER, Dec. 17, 2012 /CNW/ - A British Columbia Securities Commission panel has permanently banned a B.C. man from the province's capital markets for committing fraud by knowingly making materially false statements to entice investors to invest in a company he controlled.

The panel found that between 2008 and 2011, Myron Sullivan II (aka Fred Myron George Sullivan) knowingly made false statements while promoting Global Response Group Corp. (GRG), a B.C.-based company that Sullivan claimed was in possession of oil spill clean-up and fire fighting technology. Sullivan is the director, President and Chief Executive Officer of GRG.

The panel also found that  Sullivan used International Marketing of Canada Corp. (IMC), another B.C.-based company, to receive money from persons who invested in GRG. Sullivan is a director and officer of IMC.

Sullivan raised approximately $1.74 million from 97 investors by selling GRG shares from his personal holdings, which he acquired directly from GRG. In its decision, the panel found that these shares were illegally distributed as Sullivan did not file a prospectus in respect of any of his distributions, and no exemptions from prospectus requirements were applicable.

Noting that "misrepresentation and fraud strike at the integrity and reputation of our markets", the panel found that Sullivan repeatedly made false statements to investors in order to entice them to invest in GRG. He told them that GRG would soon go public and be traded at a specified price, and that the company had sold its technology to the Chinese National Petroleum Company. None of this was true.

For his misconduct, Sullivan GRG and IMC are permanently banned from trading in securities, purchasing securities or exchange contracts and from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer or registrant. They are also permanently prohibited from becoming or acting as a registrant, investment fund manager or promoter, from engaging in investor relations activities, and from acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with the securities market.

The panel also ordered the respondents to pay to the commission the $1,739,225 they obtained as a result of their contraventions of the Act. Furthermore, Sullivan must pay an administrative penalty of $700,000. GRG and IMC are jointly and severally liable for this amount.

The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province. You may view the decision on our website, www.bcsc.bc.ca, by typing Sullivan, Global Resource Group Corp, International Marketing Group of Canada Corp. or 2012 BCSECCOM 464 in the search box.  Information regarding disciplinary proceedings can be found in the Enforcement section of the BCSC website.

Please visit the Canadian Securities Administrators' Disciplined Persons List for information relating to persons disciplined by provincial securities regulators, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA).

Learn how to protect yourself and become a more informed investor at www.investright.org

SOURCE: British Columbia Securities Commission

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