Two Ontario men have been charged with fraud and related offences following a lengthy investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) Joint Serious Offences Team (JSOT), the OSC announced on Friday.
Douglas DeBoer of Ancaster, Ont. and Leonard Lodder of Guelph, Ont. have been charged with fraud, trading without registration and trading without a prospectus for allegedly selling securities in Hockley Energy and Rocky Point Energy. The allegations have not been proven.
The charges against DeBoer are connected to the sale of over US$4 million of Hockley Energy securities, and over US$3 million worth of Rocky Point Energy securities, the OSC says in a news release. The charges against Lodder relate to the sale of the securities in Hockley Energy.
Both men are scheduled to appear in court in Hamilton, Ont. on May 28.
Earlier this week, an Ontario judge convicted Michelle Dunk of Waterloo, Ont., of fraud, unregistered trading, trading without a prospectus, and breaching an OSC cease trade order over the sale of promissory notes in Rocky Point Energy.
In 2016, Dunk was sentenced to 75 days in jail and two years of probation after pleading guilty to charges of unregistered trading and breaching a cease trade order for selling the securities of Hockley Energy.
JSOT was established as an enforcement partnership between the OSC, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police financial crime program and the Ontario Provincial Police anti-rackets branch.