An Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) panel has ordered $5.6 million in penalties, disgorgement and costs in an apparent affinity fraud case.

The OSC Thursday ordered that Marlon Gary Hibbert, a pastor and founder of Dominion World Outreach Ministries, be permanently banned from the markets, that he disgorge almost $4.7 million, which was improperly raised from investors, and that he pay an administrative penalty of $750,000, and costs of $200,000.

Back in April, the panel found that Hibbert misled OSC staff and perpetrated a fraud on investors when he, and several corporate defendants (Ashanti Corporate Services Inc., Dominion International Resource Management Inc., Kabash Resource Management and Power To Create Wealth Inc.) traded without registration, and engaged in an illegal distribution, raising over $8.4 million from investors, many of whom were connected with a church he ran.

In Thursday’s decision, OSC commissioner James Carnwath wrote, “In 32 years of adjudication I have never encountered a more vile, more heinous fraud than that perpetrated by Hibbert on his unsuspecting parishioners.”

He noted that victims of the fraud “stressed the implicit trust they had in Hibbert because he was a ‘man of God’,” adding, “Any sanctions imposed must dissuade him from ever repeating his conduct in this matter. Equally important is the requirement to dissuade persons like Hibbert who are tempted to take advantage of the trust reposed in them.”

According to the decision, Hibbert repaid about $3.7 million of the $8.4 million he raised, spent $673,000 for his personal use, and donated almost $500,000 to charities controlled by his family.

It also says that on Aug. 1, OSC staff and Hibbert’s counsel appeared with a joint sanctions recommendation that was based on his promise to transfer $650,000 of investor funds from a trading account in Panama to the commission. But, that transfer never materialized, and so OSC staff sought more severe sanctions and a higher costs award than had been agreed. Staff asked for the maximum $1 million penalty against him, whereas his counsel argued for between $250,000 and $500,000.