BCSC-banned Mitton arrested in Toronto
2007-01-31 15:57 ET - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell
The RCMP's Integrated Market Enforcement Team has arrested Vancouver's best known con man, Michael Mitton, 47, for fraud and money laundering. He was picked up in downtown Toronto last Friday where police tracked him to an undisclosed location.
He was wanted on a four-month-old warrant for the alleged pump-and-dump of Pender International Inc., an OTC Bulletin Board listing that went from 30 cents to $11.85 in 35 days. The company now appears defunct, and last traded under a penny. Mr. Mitton faces charges of fraud, money laundering, possession of the proceeds of crime and two counts of extortion.
Police say Mr. Mitton did not pose a physical threat, but "it is believed that he continues to defraud the public, and therefore poses an enormous financial threat to the community at large."
His arrest was the result of "good old-fashioned police work," says RCMP spokesman Michele Paradis. Police are releasing few details because a judge has imposed a publication ban at the request of Mr. Mitton's lawyer.
The Ontario Securities Commission started investigating Mr. Mitton for Pender International in 2004, when it alleged he was manipulating the stock using the alias Michael Douglas. The OSC said there was no news to justify the stock's rapid ascent while Mr. Mitton traded large blocks of the company.
Pender's only asset, a flooded mine in Ontario, did not justify its price, the regulator said. The OSC referred the case to the Toronto office of IMET, which laid charges against Mr. Mitton and two Ontario residents last September.
The charges, if proven in court, would add to Mr. Mitton's already considerable record of 103 criminal convictions, many of which came when he lived in Vancouver. One of the more notable was the H&R Enterprises Inc. scam, in which Mr. Mitton manipulated the stock from $2 to $6.75 while he and others pocketed $1.8-million.
His most recent conviction was in December, 2000, for the Clay-Tech Industries Inc. fraud, when he received four years in jail for defrauding several brokerages. A judge ordered him to pay $2.4-million in restitution.
Mr. Mitton's first arrest was in 1977, when he was charged with fraudulently obtaining food and lodging at the age of 17. His first securities-related charges came in 1983, when he received four years in jail for ripping off a Montreal brokerage.
The B.C. Securities Commission banned Mr. Mitton for 20 years in a 1988 wash trading case, and made the ban permanent in 2005 after the H&R and Clay-Tech frauds.
Mr. Mitton is in a Toronto jail, awaiting an appearance before a judge on Feb. 2.
