Peter Beck, Swift Trade et al. Settle with the Ontario Securities Commission

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today approved a settlement agreement reached between Staff and Peter Beck (Beck), Swift Trade Inc. (continued as 7722656 Canada Inc.) (Swift Trade), Biremis Corp. (Biremis), Opal Stone Financial Services S.A. (Opal Stone), Barka Co. Limited (Barka), Trieme Corporation (Trieme) and Calm Oceans L.P. (Calm Oceans) (collectively, the Swift Trade Group).

Beck was the co-founder and President of Swift Trade. He was the directing mind of the company and at various times, he, or a member of his family, had a direct or indirect ownership interest in each of the other Respondents.

In the settlement agreement, Swift Trade, under the direction of Beck, admitted to breaching the Securities Act (Ontario) in relation to supervisory, internal control and other compliance obligations, as well as requirements to provide information to the Commission. Beck also admitted to having not complied with Ontario securities law as a director or officer of Swift Trade.

In particular, admissions were made to the following breaches of Ontario securities law:

• Beck and Swift Trade failed to hire, retain and supervise adequate finance and compliance personnel;
• Swift Trade was deficient in the management of its financial affairs; and,
• Swift Trade had inadequate compliance practices for the period of 2008 to 2010, and it failed to perform, or demonstrate that it had performed, adequate reviews of trading for possible instances of manipulative or deceptive trading activities.

Beck and the other members of the Swift Trade Group also acknowledged that, at various times, from 2007 until 2011, they acted contrary to the public interest in relation to the dealer registration requirement by receiving and/or transmitting sale orders for execution on international marketplaces without the use of appropriately registered dealers.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Beck and the other members of the Swift Trade Group must pay an administrative penalty of $100,000, plus $300,000 towards the costs of Staff’s investigation. Furthermore, each member of the Swift Trade Group is banned from becoming or acting as a registrant for periods varying from two to six years, and Swift Trade, Biremis, Opal Stone, Barka and Trieme are banned from trading or acquiring securities for periods varying from four to six years. Beck was reprimanded and is banned, for a period of two years, from becoming or acting as a director or officer of a registrant.

Beck and other members of the Swift Trade Group have also given an undertaking to the Commission that any orders to purchase or sell securities that pass through Ontario will proceed directly through a registered investment dealer. Additionally, none of the members will use, from any location in Ontario, their own trading related servers to receive or transmit orders to purchase or sell securities. They have also undertaken to abide by certain restrictions relating to the control of any Ontario registrants for periods that correspond to their respective prohibitions.

A copy of the Settlement Agreement and Order of the Commission in this matter are available on the OSC website at www.osc.ca

The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices and to foster fair and efficient capital markets and confidence in capital markets. Investors are urged to check the registration of any person or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC’s investor materials available at www.osc.ca

 

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