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DAVID BAINES: Lightning strikes thrice for man charged with hair-raising stock follies

By DavidBaines 8 Jul 2011 Howe Street Files
http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/howestreetfiles/archive/2011/07/08/david-baines-lightning-strikes-thrice-for-man-charged-with-hair-raising-stock-follies.aspx

Former mutual-fund salesman Ronald Conn and his wife, Sze Man “Ella” Conn, were arrested last week and charged with multiple counts of unlawful trading, fraud and breach of previous-imposed jail conditions.

The couple was arrested outside a residence by members of the B.C. Securities Commission Criminal Investigations Team, with assistance from Vancouver police.

Ronald Conn was charged with 119 counts under the Securities Act and 15 counts under the Criminal Code. Ella Conn was charged with five counts and one count, respectively.

The Crown alleges that, between July 2008 and September 2010, they illegally solicited more than $1 million from 21 investors for investment in Follicles Worldwide Holdings Corp., which was promoting a hair-growth device called the Trioxinator.

Ella Conn was released on $10,000 bail, but Ronald Conn remains in jail pending completion of his bail hearing Wednesday

This is the third arrest for him and the second arrest for her on charges relating to illegal trading in Follicles Worldwide.

Conn's troubles started in 1997 when a BCSC hearing panel suspended him from the B.C. securities market for 15 years in connection with his sale of shares of a gold-mining company called Mindoro Corp. (which is not the same company as Edomonton-based Mindoro Resources).

Evidence at the hearing was that Conn, while working at now-defunct Vantage Securities, sold nearly $4 million worth of Mindoro shares and earned $393,000 in sales commissions. Unfortunately for investors, Mindoro was a fraud, run by longtime securities crook Ron Markham. Investors lost all their money.

After he was banned from the market, Conn went into the holistic health business, first through a company called Ubiquity Wellness Centre, and more recently through Follicles Worldwide.

In early 2010, BCSC investigators found evidence that Ronald Conn was selling shares of Follicles Worldwide and a related company, Roneen Holdings Ltd.

In May 2010, at the urging of BCSC staff, Crown counsel charged him under the Securities Act with the illegal sale of securities, and with breaching his earlier suspension order. He was arrested and released on bail. That matter is set for trial starting Dec. 6.

One of the bail conditions was that he refrains from promoting or selling securities. But according to BCSC enforcement staff, Ronald Conn, assisted by his wife, continued to sell shares of Follicles Worldwide.

In October 2010, they were arrested on new charges and released on bail. That trial is set for April 23, 2012.

Then lightning struck again last week when they were re-arrested on similar charges. No trial date has been set for this third set of charges.

The Crown prosecutor in all three matters is John Ahern. Representing Ronald Conn is well-known securities legalist Rod Anderson.

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http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/howestreetfiles/archive/2011/07/08/david-baines-lightning-strikes-thrice-for-man-charged-with-hair-raising-stock-follies.aspx