A Victoria woman who helped a local investment firm raise $312,000 for a Northern Ireland company to salvage First and Second World War shipwrecks without the proper licensing or paperwork is in hot water with the B.C. Securities Commission.
In a settlement ruling this week, the commission banned Nola Wanda Beecroft from trading or purchasing securities for five years.
The commission said Beecroft, 55, admitted to facilitating distributions of Belfast-based Blue Lighthouse Ltd. through its Victoria-based agent, MCL Ventures Inc., that would pay them a percentage of the proceeds from a shipwreck salvage operation.
The commission said Beecroft raised the money through MCL Ventures between March 2009 to this past April with no offering memorandum or prospectus and no exemptions applied to the distributions to the investors. In addition, Beecroft was not registered in any capacity under B.C. securities laws.
The commission noted that Beecroft and her family invested $95,000 in Blue Lighthouse and have not recovered any money on their investment.
Beecroft admitted to introducing 11 investors to MCL, which is operated in Victoria by sole director John Arthur Roche McLoughlin. They collectively invested $169,000 in Blue Lighthouse securities. Beecroft signed 16 investment warrant agreements on behalf of MCL, according to the commission's ruling, and received $41,000 for doing research for Blue Lighthouse.
Under an order from the securities commission executive director, Beecroft is prohibited, with limited exceptions, from trading or purchasing securities, and from becoming or acting as a director of any issuer for five years. She is also prohibited from acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities market, or engaging in investor relations for the same period.
