Kitchener woman gets a year in jail for violating trading ban

TORONTO — A Kitchener woman has been sentenced to 12 months in jail for violating a 15-year trading ban imposed by the Ontario Securities Commission.

April Vuong was sentenced this week in the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto after she pleaded guilty last September to violating a trading ban that was imposed by the commission in November 2013.

The sentence follows a criminal conviction last July after Vuong and her husband, Hao Quach, were found guilty of committing fraud over $5,000.

They were both sentenced to six months in prison for the fraud convictions.

In a news release Thursday, the commission said the charges relating to this week’s sentence are in connection with quasi-criminal offences related to trading in securities.

It said that in 2014, Vuong, using an alias, actively solicited a Canadian resource company to raise capital for a mining project.

This happened while she was banned from trading in securities.

The trading ban was imposed after Vuong and Quach raised $12.4 million on behalf of a Systematech Solutions Inc., a software consulting company they controlled, from 38 friends, business associates and referrals between March 2007 and October 2011.

As part of a settlement agreement with the securities commission in November 2013, it was found that Vuong and Quach issued promissory notes in which they promised most investors an annual rate of interest of 12 to 15 per cent.

Some investors were promised an annual rate of 20 to 30 per cent.

The commission found that $8 million was repaid to investors, $3.6 million was lost in trading accounts controlled by Vuong and Quach, and $691,000 was used by them for personal payments, including credit payments, payments to retailers and cash withdrawals.

The commission banned Vuong from trading in securities for 15 years. Quach was banned for 10 years.

The settlement with the commission in November 2013 came one month after Vuong and Quach were charged with fraud over $5,000 in connection with the matter.

They were found guilty of fraud last July after a four-week jury trial in Brampton. In October, they were each sentenced to six years in prison.

The securities commission said the investigation into the most recent violation was conducted by staff from the Joint Serious Offences Team.