The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) banned Charles DeBono from participating in the province’s capital market permanently on Friday. DeBono pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of laundering the proceeds of a Ponzi scheme in 2022.
DeBono raised close to $48 million from more than 500 investors between January 2013 and August 2017, for a venture called Debit Direct. He claimed the firm would place debit machines at locations across the country, and that investors would receive a share of transaction fees. More than 100 Albertans contributed to the capital raise. Those that did receive money were paid out of other investors’ funds.
In June 2022, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice sentenced DeBono to seven years in prison and ordered him to pay more than $26 million in restitution. He was granted credit for time served pretrial, which reduced his sentence to just under 52 months. DeBono was granted day parole in July 2023.
“DeBono’s misconduct — fraud — was extremely serious, involving hundreds of investors, a large amount of money, deceit, misrepresentation and misappropriation of millions of dollars for his personal benefit,” according to a statement by an ASC panel. It expressed a “significant need for strong sanctions to deter DeBono and others from similar misconduct in the future, and to protect Alberta investors and the Alberta capital market from further harm.”
The Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal issued a similar permanent ban to DeBono in February 2024.