News Releases
Calgary lawyer Norman Anderson settles with the ASC for market manipulation
Mar 11, 2019
CALGARY – March 11, 2019 – The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has concluded a Settlement Agreement and Undertaking with Norman David Anderson for a breach of Alberta securities laws relating to the creation in 2013 of an artificial price for the securities of Bluforest, Inc. (formerly Greenwood Gold Resources Inc.). Bluforest, now dissolved, had a Calgary office and was quoted for trading in 2012/13 on U.S. over-the-counter quotation boards.
In the Settlement Agreement, Anderson admitted to engaging or participating in an act, practice, or course of conduct, relating to Bluforest securities, that he ought to have known resulted in or contributed to an artificial price for those securities. He acknowledged failing to take proper or sufficient steps to identify if his then client, Cem (Jim) Can, through Can’s control of Bluforest and offshore companies, was engaging in a market manipulation of Bluforest’s shares.
As part of the Settlement Agreement, Anderson paid the ASC $90,000, and for a period of eight years, agreed to refrain from:
- acting as a director or officer, or both, of any issuer with limited exceptions;
- providing non-litigation securities related legal services;
- acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities market; and
- acting as a trustee or beneficiary for any issuer, trust or other entity for the benefit of any clients or former clients.
“Market manipulations and related schemes are a menace to our capital markets and often result in huge losses to innocent investors,” said Cynthia Campbell, Director, Enforcement. “Professional advisors such as lawyers who participate in these activities will be held to account.”
The ASC gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Superintendencia de Compañías, Valores y Seguros of Ecuador.
The ASC chairs the Cross Border Market Fraud Initiative (CBMFI), an international coalition of regulatory and law enforcement agencies that uses innovative, coordinated and timely actions to detect and deter penny stock abuses.
Anderson was a respondent in a Notice of Hearing issued by the ASC on February 5, 2018. The hearing into the allegations against the remaining respondents commenced on March 6, 2019. For more information on the hearing, visit the Status of Current Proceedings page. A copy of the Settlement Agreement is also available on the ASC website at albertasecurities.com.
The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province's securities laws. It is entrusted with fostering a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and with protecting investors. As a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators, the ASC works to improve, coordinate and harmonize the regulation of Canada's capital markets.
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