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A BCSC panel alleges that a North Vancouver man participated in stock manipulation, raising a resource company’s share price from $0.45 to $4.75 despite no news during that time frame.
A North Vancouver man — along with two US partners — helped manipulate the share price of a resource company in 2009, alleges the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC).
A BCSC panel has said that between June 15 and July 6, 2009, Mark Aaron McLeary, Robert Hainey and Jerry Williams manipulated the share price of Sungro Minerals (OTCMKTS:SGO), driving it from $0.45 to $4.75 despite no news to back up that drive.
According to the panel, the company only had $299 in assets on June 15, but saw astronomical gains shortly thereafter. McLeary, a North Vancouver resident, is alleged to have told Hainey that Sungro’s publicly available stocks were tightly controlled, while Hainey in turn told Williams, who promoted the company across various message boards he moderated.
The BCSC alleges that when questioned on payments, McLeary made false or misleading statements in regards to a payment he received from Narvinder Singh Patric Virk, which in turn was from proceeds of the manipulation.
Furthermore, a report issued by the panel states that McLeary directed both Virk and Karnjit Singh Bahd to sell shares on certain days at specific amounts and prices, resulting in McLeary receiving a payment of $68,500 from Virk.
Securities Disclosure: I, Nick Wells, hold no direct investment in any of the companies mentioned in this article.