(June 9 – 13:05 ET) – TAC International Ltd. and its president are being sanctioned by the B.C Securities Commission for failing to live up to a previous settlement agreement.

TAC’s shares have been permanently cease-traded. Company president Craig Southwood has been assessed $25,000 in administrative penalties, as well as the costs of the hearing, and TAC has been slapped with the same penalty too. The BCSC has also prohibited Southwood from trading in the B.C securities market and acting as a director or officer of any issuing company.

In 1999 TAC entered a settlement agreement with the BCSC executive director where it admitted wrongdoing and agreed to repay investors their initial capital as well as a $25,000 penalty. TAC also agreed to a permanent trading ban in B.C. That order remains in effect.

The BCSC says investors still haven’t had their money back, never mind the outrageous returns they were promised by TAC. Investors were promised returns of 40% in the first 45-days and 60% every 45-day period thereafter for a minimum US$1,500 investment. Total investor losses are estimated to range from US$256,500 to US$1 million.

“The executive director relies on the undertakings of the respondents who make them,” the commission said in its decision. “If the executive director cannot rely on such undertakings, the integrity of the settlement process is compromised. This is contrary to the public interest, which is served by the resolution of allegations through the settlement process in appropriate circumstances.”
-IE Staff