(March 21- 16:55) – A British Columbia Securities Commission panel has found that Nirbhia Singh Gill of Surrey, B.C., committed fraud and breached the Securities Act in connection with an unregistered distribution of securities to two men.

In a decision released today, the panel says Gill perpetrated a fraud on one of the individuals and made misrepresentations to him in connection with the distribution.

Gill was a salesperson with Investors Group Financial Services from 1990 until he left in early 1996. According to the panel, Gill re-established contact with two of his former clients later that same year. During the next two years, those two men gave Gill a total of $118,000. Gill deposited the money into accounts at Canaccord Capital and a personal account at a credit union. He used the money to pay debts and his personal expenses. Only $34,000 of that money has been paid back.

Gill said both men gave him the money as personal loans, an argument the panel accepted with respect to one of the men. However, the panel found that the other man had given money to Gill as an investment, not as a personal loan. The panel also found that Gill made misrepresentations to this man about Gill’s financial situation and what Gill intended to do with the money and that Gill had perpetrated a fraud on him.

“We are of the view that both dishonesty and deprivation were present in Gill’s transaction with Brown. We found earlier that this transaction involved the distribution of a security from Gill or Gill Financial (Gill’s company) to Brown. Therefore, we find Gill perpetrated a fraud on Brown, contrary to section 57 of the Act,” the panel said.

The BCSC will hear further submissions before issuing orders.
-IE Staff