I don't know much about American law but I know Canadian law from what I read is quite different. Someone like Conrad Black was tried in the US by a federal court but in Canada, white collar crime is tried by provincial court. I know the regulators have their hands tied by legislation and can hand down some pretty stiff sentences financially but quite often, as in the United States, those penalties are hardly ever collected. In Canada you won't see these types of fraudsters getting jail time unless the police agencies step in and prosecute them for fraud. I went to a lecture a year or two ago at Osgoode in Toronto on punishing white collar crime and it was an eye opener. If you rob a convenience store of $300.00 and get caught and sentenced you likely will do 3-5 years. If you run a ponzi scheme and get caught you might get sentenced to 12 years but the law states you only have to serve one in six so you would be out in 2 years and you could have made off with $300 Million! They actually have a white collar crime law which makes it seem okay to rip people off. Check David Baines column sometime on line-he writes for the Vancouver Sun and he was writing about the white collar crime unit of the Mounties and how they, well, hardly ever get their man. It is an embarrassment and it costs the taxpayer a fortune to run and the local parking meter bylaw officer likely generates a better return for what we pay them! Still all in all Canada does okay compared to many countries when it comes to investors. And don't forget Bernie operated under the noses of the SEC for two decades and they were warned he was running a ponzi scheme and they did nothing about it! They may make headlines in the US when they sentence the bad guys to jail but that still provides little comfort to those they ripped off. The only real deterrent to fraud is not to have a stock market at all. Someone will always risk it and they seldom tell the regulators what they are up to. Just like the police solve crimes after they are committed. Someone, somewhere is handing over money for a bad investment to a bad guy right now. Do you know who that is?
I feel lucky to have gotten out with most of my funds but I will never trade these penny stocks again. I don't know what can happen if the ASC holds a trial for these guys but I doubt they will even show up. I would love to know why Tradeshow did not have their lawyer at the hearing. The lawyer for PBEC was there which makes me think they are writing off Tradeshow and trying to save PBEC. Since the money is all in one pocket for both companies, maybe he should have hired one lawyer for both! I don't know but not having a legal rep there makes me feel weak for the future of the company and those still holding shares in it.
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