Divisional court rejects appeal against the OSC.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice is taking a hard line on appellants with its recent rejection of an appeal against an Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) ruling.
The OSCJ Divisional Court dismissed the appeal made by a father and his three sons – Lewis Taylor Sr., Lewis Taylor Jr., Colin Taylor and Jared Taylor – who were disputing an OSC ruling in 2010 of the Taylor v. Ontario Securities Commission, 2013 ONSC 6495 case.
The men were found guilty of violating securities laws by trading without registration, trading in securities without filing proper disclosure documents and misrepresenting securities they were trading by assuring they were listed or about to be listed on a stock exchange.
The men argued that that the transactions under scrutiny were loans, not schemes to sell securities and that evidence had been ignored during the case. The accused also said the commission gave "considerable weight" to hearsay evidence from investors who completed questionnaires and participated in telephone interviews.
The OSCJ determined that the OSC had “ample evidence” to conclude the transactions were sale not loan-based, and that hearsay evidence was only considered when supported with other evidence. The court also rejected allegations of bias and lack of due process. The court ruled that the men controlled shares and distributed them to the public in “violation of the Act.”
The accused now owe $25,000 due to the number of issues raised in the appeal and the time taken to complete the appeal process, the OSCJ ruled.
According to court transcripts, Lewis Taylor Sr. was prohibited from selling securities to the public from 1990 to 2000 and none of his sons were registered to trade securities. The Nevada-based company the accused were affiliated with, Mega-C Power Corporation (MCP), never filed a prospectus with the OSC, report the transcripts.
