ASC accuses dental-drill company of fraud

The Alberta Securities Commission has accused a Sherwood Park dental drill company and its owner of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars.

Allan Robert Magneson was the director of New Wave Innovations Ltd., which was developing a dental drill with low-friction bearings and turbine technology that wouldn’t emit the standard drill’s high-pitched whine, according to a hearing notice released Friday.

New Wave and Magneson raised about $6.6 million by selling shares to about 168 investors, including 142 Albertans, between June 2011 and December 2016, the notice alleges.

While Magneson told investors the money would be used to develop and market the drill, he diverted about $4.1 million through a numbered company to himself and for the benefit of his wife and two daughters, the notice alleges.

This allegedly included $1.4 million paid by the numbered company toward loans related to residential properties held by Magneson and his wife, and $1.1 million to his daughters.

Other payments included a total of $266,000 for family vehicles, almost $340,000 in cash withdrawals and $213,000 toward property taxes and utility payments, the notice alleges.

Magneson, New Wave and the numbered company are accused of breaching the Securities Act by defrauding New Wave investors.