The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) has alleged that a purported investment scheme was actually a Ponzi scheme that ended up defrauding investors.
According to the BCSC, Bezzaz Holdings Group Ltd. and Nexus Global Trading Ltd. raised millions of dollars from investors on promises of generating returns of between 5% and 30% for investments of between one and six months.
The BCSC reports that investors were provided with postdated cheques to cash in their returns, but that the scheme’s operators knew it would not generate sufficient returns to pay investors because Bezzaz bounced cheques to investors; the companies’ bank accounts were closed in February 2015 for cheque kiting; and the operators were relying on credit cards to fund the companies.
The BCSC is accusing the firms’ founder, Todd Norman John Bezzasso, of fraud for his role in raising $5 million from 85 investors. It also alleges that an insurance agent, Wei Kai Liao (aka Kevin Liao), raised $1.6 million for the scheme from 27 investors, including 16 of his insurance clients; and that an administrative assistant for the firms, Fiorino Corsi, raised $15,000 from one investor.
“By February 2015, the business was not earning enough money to pay investors,” the BCSC says. “Bezzasso and the corporate respondents kept the scheme afloat by operating it as a Ponzi scheme, paying some investors with money from other investors.”
None of the allegations in the case have been proven. The BCSC will apply to set dates for a hearing on Sept. 11.