The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has permanently banned a convicted fraudster from the capital markets.
The OSC on Monday ordered that Andre Lewis, who was convicted of one count of fraud over $5,000 in 2014, also be sanctioned by the regulator.
According to the OSC decision, Lewis was convicted by a jury following a 39-day trial, which heard that he allegedly defrauded 33 investors of $7.5 million between 2004 and 2011, as part of “an elaborate mortgage investment scam in the nature of a Ponzi scheme.”
Lewis was sentenced to seven years in prison for his criminal conviction, and ordered to repay the $7.5 million to investors.
“It is in the public interest to sanction Mr. Lewis,” the OSC panel ruled, noting that the misconduct involved securities and caused serious harm.
Evidence at trial established that, while Lewis did invest a small portion of the money he received from investors in mortgages, most of it was returned to other investors as part of the scheme, or diverted for personal use, the OSC panel noted.
“In such circumstances, when large scale fraud is involved and investors have suffered severe harm, permanent bans for cease trading and market prohibitions are necessary to provide both specific and general deterrence,” the panel said. “Such sanctions are prospective to protect Ontario investors in the future.”
Lewis consented to the commission’s bid to sanction him, the panel noted.