Couple tried to get B.C. court to forgive $25M debt tied to 'morally unacceptable' actions

An appeal for a B.C. court to forgive a whopping $25 million in debt has been dismissed, with the judges ruling the case has "no merit" in any of the grounds suggested by the couple behind the appeal.

An appeal for a B.C. court to forgive a whopping $25 million in debt has been dismissed, with the judges ruling the case has "no merit" in any of the grounds suggested by the couple behind the appeal.

A recently posted ruling, dated Sept. 24, outlined the couple's argument for an appeal, following a decision in B.C. Supreme Court to refuse to give the couple a "fresh start."

According to a transcript of the judgment from the appellate court, Thalbinder Singh Poonian and Shailu Poonian applied for bankruptcy in 2018. At that point, they had few assets, and had accumulated a debt of $25 million.

The debt was owed largely to the B.C. Securities Commission. According to the BCSC, the couple was ordered to pay a combined $13.5 million in administrative penalties for committing what the commission described as "market manipulation," and another $5.5 million "disgorgement of their ill-gotten gains."

The Supreme Court summarized what the BCSC found as "the Poonians pumped up the price of the shares of a publicly traded company and then offloaded those shares at inflated prices to unsophisticated investors with financial problems."

Those investors lost about $7 million in total between October and December of 2009, and the BCSC found Thalbinder the "mastermind" of the scheme, the Court of Appeal judges said.

The couple decided to take the case to court in an attempt to be discharged from the debts they'd incurred through the BCSC ruling.