BCSC seeks another $7.2M in assets from Vancouver man to settle fines
The B.C. Securities Commission has filed additional claims against Vancouver fraudster Earle Douglas Pasquill and his wife, increasing the value of assets it is seeking to $20 million.
The securities commission, which opened a claim in B.C. Supreme Court in August, is now seeking access to seven properties in Vancouver as part of an effort to collect millions in penalties and repayments owed by Earle Pasquill.
Initially, the BCSC filed claims against five properties, listed wholly or partly in the name of Pasquill s wife, Vicki Irene Pasquill, totalling $12.8 million.
In September, the BCSC amended its claim to include two other properties owned by Vickers Holdings Ltd., whose sole director is Vicki Pasquill, totalling $7.2 million. Earle Pasquill was a director of the company until May 2015.
The BCSC filing alleges that Vicki Pasquill caused Vicker Holdings to use or accept the proceeds of fraud in the maintenance and improvement of its properties.
The Pasquills have not filed a response in court to the securities commission claims, but their lawyers are fighting the addition of the two properties, according to court filings.
The BCSC is seeking access to the properties to collect a $15-million fine and $21.7 million raised fraudulently in 2008 from nearly 700 investors.
Reached by phone at his home, Pasquill declined to comment on the BCSC s legal action against the properties.
Asked whether he intended to respond to the suit launched by the BCSC, Pasquill said: “We’ll let the lawyers do the talking.”
The BCSC’s action against the Pasquills is the latest measure the regulator has taken after a Postmedia News investigation, reported in November 2017, revealed more than half a billion dollars of its penalties had gone uncollected in the past decade. During the period, the collection rate was less than two per cent.
B.C. Securities Commission director of enforcement Doug Muir said he could not provide details of their investigation or legal strategy. “The collections process can be long and complicated, but when we find assets that we believe are obtainable, we ll go after them,” said Muir.
In 2015, the BCSC judicial panel found that Pasquill and Michael Lathigee, who now lives in Las Vegas, had raised millions without telling investors that Alberta real estate development projects pitched through their investment club were in serious financial difficulty. The panel also found millions raised to invest in U.S. foreclosures had been redirected to prop up the Alberta real estate developments with unsecured loans.
The Postmedia investigation tracked down assets held by financial fraudsters, including properties held in Pasquill s wife s name. The Pasquills live in a home assessed at $4.35 million in the west side of Vancouver, near private boys school St. George’s. The Postmedia investigation found the home had been in Pasquill’s and his wife names since 1995, but was transferred into Vicki Pasquill’s sole name in 2000 for $1, according to B.C. Land Titles documents.
The BCSC’s civil suit highlights that transfer. The suit says the effect of receiving such transfers “and the proceeds of the fraud would be to defeat, delay or hinder investors and the commission from collecting claims and penalties.”