The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has laid quasi-criminal charges against a man accused of defrauding a Kazakhstan-based pension fund.
The OSC said Thursday it has charged Berik Yessirkegenov and his company, North American Business Equipment Corporation (NABEC), with fraud. The commission alleges that Yessirkegenov misrepresented to the pension fund that his firm was licensed to trade in securities in Canada, by the non-existent “Securities and Exchange Commission of the Canada”.
It says that the fund forwarded approximately US$8 million to NABEC in the belief that the funds would be invested in financial instruments, including equities. The OSC says the firm produced false trading confirmations and false monthly account statements in order to create the illusion that the funds were invested as directed, and concealed the actual trading losses and payments made from its trading accounts.
The allegations in the case have not been proven. The first appearance for the defendants is set for August 28 at a courthouse in Newmarket, Ont.