(November 14 – 16:45 ET) – At a hearing held yesterday, the Ontario Securities Commission approved a settlement with Russell Millard, a former mutual funds salesperson of CCI Capital Canada Ltd.

In the settlement, Millard admitted to selling securities which he was not registered to sell. The OSC reprimanded Millard and suspended his registration for 21 days.

Millard is registered to sell mutual fund securities. From February 1998 to March 1999 Millard was sponsored by CCI, a mutual fund dealer, to sell mutual fund securities.

The commission found that on Sept. 1, 1998, CCI entered into an agreement to place units of Amber Coast Resort Corp. in exchange for fees and use of a luxury villa. Amber Coast is incorporated in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Amber Coast offering relied on separate exemptions from the prospectus and registration requirements of the Ontario Securities Act. No prospectus for Amber Coast was ever filed with the OSC.

Although CCI was never registered as a limited market dealer, CCI encouraged its sales representatives, including Millard, to sell units of Amber Coast to their clients. Millard sold units of Amber Coast to two of his clients. In total those clients invested US$110,000 in Amber Coast.

The OSC said that Millard was not licensed to sell limited market products like the Amber Coast offering, therefore his sales to clients constituted trading without registration.

Millard responded that he understood from representations made by the compliance personnel and management at CCI that he was entitled to sell units of Amber Coast to his clients. Although he relied upon these representations, Millard agreed with the OSC decision.