News Release
ASC sanctions Brian Kitts and Vesta Capcorp Inc. for fraud
Nov 14, 2019
CALGARY – November 14, 2019 – The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has sanctioned Brian Arthur Kitts and Vesta Capcorp Inc. (Vesta) for perpetrating a fraud on investors. An ASC panel previously determined that the respondents, who obtained approximately $4.3 million and US$850,000 from about 38 investors, engaged in fraudulent misconduct by misrepresenting to investors the use to be made of invested funds, diverting such funds to unidentified businesses not within their reasonable expectation, misappropriating funds to the personal use of Kitts and using investors' capital to repay principal and pay imaginary profits to investors.
The ASC panel ordered Kitts and Vesta to pay, on a joint and several basis, an administrative penalty of $600,000, a disgorgement order of $1,960,457 and $150,000 of the costs of the investigation and hearing. The panel also ordered an array of permanent market access bans against both Kitts and Vesta.
In its decision, the panel found the Respondents' misconduct to be "egregious" and that Kitts "planned to defraud innocent investors from the outset." The panel also found that Kitts had "continued his fraudulent capital-market activity in Alberta in the face of regulatory sanction and criminal proceedings elsewhere" and was "seemingly an unrepentant recidivist." The panel concluded that "the Respondents pose a pronounced risk to the public and are deserving of significant sanctions that will prevent them from future participation in the capital market."
This sanctions decision is is available on the ASC website at albertasecurities.com.
The ASC gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, British Columbia Securities Commission, Utah Attorney General’s Office and Utah Division of Securities.
The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province’s securities laws. It is entrusted to foster a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and to protect 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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Curt Boechler
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