The B.C. Securities Commission has issued a capital markets ban against former Cayman Islands brokerage owner Oliver Barrett Lindsay, who recently completed a 17-month prison term in the U.S. for securities fraud.
The commission brought Lindsay to a hearing on March 6 to reciprocate a ban already imposed on him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Lindsay told the commission he was residing in Vancouver and wished to start a business.
A commission hearing panel heard from executive director Peter Brady, who deemed Lindsay a risk to the capital markets given that his fraud was “extremely serious.”
But the panel somewhat sided with Lindsay and allowed him to be able to incorporate a business that he would solely own and direct, while banning him from all other securities-related business.
In 2019, Lindsay pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and manipulative trading, for his role in a pump-and-dump scheme via his company Kelvin Medical Inc., a small medical device company.
From October 2017 through March 2018, Lindsay — while residing in the Cayman Islands — and his co-conspirator Gannon Giguiere carried out a fraudulent and manipulative trading scheme to create a false or misleading appearance of active trading in Kelvin Medical, according to the Department of Justice.
American prosecutors had alleged the scheme bilked about $1.6 million from investors on U.S. exchanges.
In May 2022, Lindsay was sentenced to 17 months in prison, three years of probation and a restitution order of about $187,000.
“These are fitting sentences for defendants who caused significant harm to investors,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman in a statement at the time.
In September 2024, Lindsay was issued a civil penalty of $75,000 via an agreement with the SEC wherein he neither admitted nor denied insider trading.
Lindsay represented himself at the hearing. He claimed to have six children and that his prosecution was a difficult time in his life.
The panel noted his testimony said that Lindsay felt the commission’s actions against him, after his indictment, “is a further punishment after I have already paid a hefty price.”
The panel ruling stated Lindsay felt that he “had not committed any crimes and that I did not know anyone that was actively committing crimes.”
“When it comes to these victims, I mean, $100,000 in trading losses for victims is hardly massive. This is described as a massive scam. That's hardly massive,” he told the panel at the hearing.
The panel stated that the orders it imposed were not designed to punish Lindsay; rather, “We must assess the public interest in light of Lindsay’s prior conduct, and particularly to assess what investor protection measure are in the public interest.”
