Former director admits manipulative trading, accepts eight-year Alberta market restrictions
That day, trading was halted at the company’s request. Three days later, it announced a definitive deal to buy the business. Its shares did not trade again until September 8, 2021, under a new name.
Commission staff set out allegations against the director and three others in an April 2, 2024 notice of hearing. Allegations against one were withdrawn when he settled on May 29, 2025, and against a second on December 12, 2025. The agreement does not say where things stand for the fourth.
Upticks, bid support and a spouse’s account
From February to November 2020, the director traded the company’s shares through two brokerage accounts in his own name, one self-directed and one full-service. He also controlled and beneficially owned a full-service account in his spouse’s name, which he used almost solely for those shares from April 2020. He bought 527,200 shares and sold 7,700.
He admitted coordinating with some or all of the others, depending on the day. His orders produced 82 buy trades. Of those, 22 were upticks, meaning they pushed the price above the last trade, and 25 filled in the day’s final trading hour. He placed 105 buy orders while others lined up staggered bids at or below the best available bid. That bid support, the agreement says, created an artificial price floor when selling picked up.
He and the others timed trades to company news releases, in an effort to hide their trading. The others did not sign this agreement, and the director accepted its facts solely for securities regulatory purposes. The commission’s regulatory message states, “Market manipulation strikes at the heart of capital markets.”
