Former CEO pays $179,862 and receives market bans for illegal insider trading

VANCOUVER , Sept. 14 /CNW/ - The British Columbia Securities Commission has settled with the former president and CEO of a publicly traded company who admitted to illegally selling his shares before the company disclosed material information to the market.

In a BCSC settlement agreement, Dalton Bruce Dupasquier, a White Rock resident, admitted to illegally selling 397,500 New Cantech Ventures Inc. shares between March 13 and April 24, 2007 avoiding a loss of $179,862 . At the time of the trades, Dupasquier was the company's president and CEO, and New Cantech was a reporting issuer that listed its shares on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Dupasquier illegally sold New Cantech shares prior to the company disclosing that the BCSC had sent a demand letter to New Cantech requiring that it retract and restate mineral and economic estimates. Dupasquier sold his shares on an honestly held, but mistaken belief, that the BCSC demand letter was not material.

Dupasquier provided the BCSC demand letter to New Cantech's counsel on March 13 , the date he received it, but counsel did not inform him that the demand was material and that he should stop selling his shares. Prior to receiving the demand, Dupasquier had been selling New Cantech shares for several months.

Under the settlement agreement, Dupasquier will pay $179,862 to the BCSC, being the amount of the loss avoided. He is also banned for five years, except in limited circumstances, from acting as a director or officer of any issuer. He is also prohibited for one year, except with certain exceptions, from selling or purchasing securities or exchange contracts.

The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province. You may view the settlement on our website www.bcsc.bc.ca by typing in the search box, Dalton Bruce Dupasquier or 2009 BCSECCOM 522. If you have questions, contact Ken Gracey , media relations, 604-899-6577.

Learn how to avoid investment fraud at the BCSC's investor education website: www.investright.org.

For further information: Ken Gracey, [phone] or (Canada) 1-800-373-6393