A stock bribery probe initiated by the Vancouver police Financial Crimes Unit has expanded to Costa Rica.
On Oct. 29, Costa Rican police, accompanied by FBI agents, raided the offices of Red Sea Management and an affiliated company, Sentry Global, in connection with its on-going investigation of one-time Vancouver resident Jonathan Curshen.
As previously noted in this column, Curshen was arrested in New York on Sept. 4 after the U.S. Justice Department filed a complaint alleging that Curshen and an associate, Bruce Grossman, conspired to defraud investors.
The complaint alleged the two men paid secret cash kickbacks to a New York undercover officer posing as a middleman who was willing to recruit corrupt stockbrokers to recommend their clients buy shares of Industrial Biotechnology Corp., listed on the OTC Bulletin Board
The interesting aspect of this case, from a Vancouver point of view, is that the probe started in the summer of 2007 when Vancouver police launched a sting operation targeting Vancouver promoter and certified management accountant Aarif Jamani.
Vancouver police later brought in the RCMP Integrated Market Enforcement Team in Vancouver, who subsequently enlisted the help of the FBI.
According an affidavit sworn by Vancouver police Det. Const. Ann Fontaine, a Vancouver police undercover officer, posing as a drug trafficker who wanted to move into the stock market, contacted Jamani. After meeting Jamani, the Vancouver undercover officer introduced him to the FBI agent in New York, who was posing as a broker with a roster of wealthy clients.
Jamani then arranged for the "broker" to buy shares of Novori Inc., a Surrey-based junior whose shares trade on the bulletin board, in three separate transactions. The shares were sold out of Jamani-related accounts at Global Securities. The accounts were administered by Global broker and certified general accountant Scott Lower.
According to the affidavit -- which was sworn to obtain trading records from Global Securities -- Jamani, Lower and another Vancouver promoter, Bob Vukovich, paid secret commissions to the New York "broker" for finding buyers for their stock. No charges have been laid against any of the three men.
I have now learned that it was Jamani who led Curshen into this police spider web. Jamani introduced Curshen to the Vancouver undercover police officer who, in turn, introduced Curshen to the FBI undercover officer in New York. Curshen subsequently met with the New York undercover officer in an FBI boat moored in New York Harbor in October 2007.
Curshen was arrested in New York on Sept. 4. Five days later, he posted a $1.2-million bond and was released from jail. He remains in the United States.
Jamani is still in Vancouver. In addition to being under police investigation, he is under formal investigation by the Certified Management Accountants of B.C.
Lower continued working with Global Securities until last week, when his registration as a broker was terminated. The Certified General Accountants Association of B.C. has issued a public advisory noting that he is under police investigation.
dbaines@vancouversun.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
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