Lethbridge-area men Rand Stevenson and Robert Smylski sentenced for Securities Act breaches

CALGARY, Aug. 25, 2016 /CNW/ - On August 24, 2016, Provincial Court of Alberta Judge T. Hironaka sentenced two Lethbridge-area men for breaches of the Alberta Securities Act. 

In November 2015, Rand Tyler Stevenson, Brent Ray Derricott and Robert Michael Smylski were found guilty of trading in OCI Q Corp. securities without having met the necessary legal requirements.  Smylski was also found guilty of breaching prior Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) orders permanently prohibiting him from trading securities in Alberta. 

The Court fined Stevenson a total of $295,000 for 39 counts of breaching the Securities Act. 

Smylski was sentenced to 90 days in prison for 13 counts of breaching the Securities Act and 30 days concurrent for 14 counts of failing to comply with previous ASC orders.  Smylski remains subject to permanent trading and market bans imposed against him by the ASC in 2009 for unrelated misconduct. Charges against Brent Derricott were stayed at the request of the ASC due to his death in May 2016.

The three men raised in excess of $1 million through loan agreements between OCI Q Corp. from 24 Alberta investors, promising returns of four to 150 times their investment.  The investor funds were to be used to help a poor Filipino fisherman probate his late aunt's multi-billion dollar estate. The aunt, at one time the housekeeper for the former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, allegedly accumulated this wealth when she was employed as a minister in the Marcos government.

A copy of the transcript of the oral decision can be obtained through the Provincial Court of Alberta in Lethbridge. 

The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province's securities laws. It is entrusted with fostering a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and with protecting investors. As a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators, the ASC works to improve, coordinate and harmonize the regulation of Canada's capital markets.

SOURCE Alberta Securities Commission

For Media Inquiries: Nicole Tuncay, Senior Communications Advisor, 403.297.4008; For Investor Inquiries: ASC Public Inquiries, Toll Free 1.877.355.4488