Harry Stinson staffer resigns after breaking Ontario securities law in $19M hotel-condo project
CBC
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has forced a Hamilton developer's employee to resign after misleading investors who gave the developer $19 million for the Buffalo Grand Hotel in New York — but documents from the proceedings state the employee didn't know he broke the rules and was relying on the developer, Harry Stinson.
Stinson, who moved to Hamilton in 2008 and is behind numerous local projects and developments, is still waiting to hear his fate.
He said he disagrees with the allegations before the tribunal and continues to work on a settlement with OSC.
"There is indeed a more fulsome story to be recounted, but it is best done once we've completed the project and proved the point this was a valid project, a valid investment," he told CBC Hamilton, adding he couldn't say much more about the case.
The OSC documents say Stinson made a plan in 2016 to convert the Buffalo hotel into a condo. He hired Stephen Kelley as the project's investment co-ordinator and client services manager.
In addition to being forced to resign, an OSC order from March 23 says Kelley is banned for two-years from participating in Ontario's capital markets. He also had to pay a $15,000 administrative penalty.
"The misconduct here was serious," reads a statement of facts, stemming from a settlement agreement between OSC and Kelley. "Kelley is remorseful."
CBC contacted Kelley for comment.
The document says Kelley was unregistered and "has no education, training, or experience in the securities industry."
It says he "made misleading statements to investors" by suggesting all investments in the hotel were qualified for registered retirement savings plans and tax-free savings accounts.
He also didn't obey the terms of the tribunal's temporary cease trade orders prohibiting trading in specific securities.
"Kelley exposed investors to unacceptable risk and undermined confidence in the capital markets," the settlement agreement says.
"Over $10 million in securities were sold to more than 100 investors, mostly based in Ontario."
But the documents list mitigating factors, including how Kelley thought he wasn't breaking the rules.
U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that Canada owes its continued existence to the United States while calling out Prime Minister Mark Carney for delivering a speech that condemned coercion by great powers.
The number of people on Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) who are also experiencing homelessness has shot up 72 percent since 2019, according to a new report from human rights organization Maytree.
Heavy snowfall and treacherous road conditions led to a number of collision and resulting road closures across the London region, Wednesday, even despite advanced warnings from meteorologists and police.
A car honked as it passed by the table Julietta Sorensen had set out in the cold January wind.
Newfoundland and Labrador needs to create several hundred new long-term care beds over the next decade, warns the head of the province’s health authority.
A lawyer for the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario (IPCO) said he’s still meeting with Public Safety Canada to iron out procedural requirements as he seeks a hearing before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT).
New data appears to confirm a widespread perception among Halifax drivers: traffic congestion is not improving and remains among the worst in Canada.
Nearly a third of the materials sent to New Brunswick landfills could be going to the compost pile instead.
A fire burning in an abandoned building on De Lorimier Avenue in Montreal has forced the closure of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge ahead of Wednesday morning's rush hour.
A man who was convicted and then acquitted in connection to the 1984 killing of Winnipeg teenager Candace Derksen was arrested in Vancouver this month on sexual assault and unlawful confinement charges.
Like the cat in the old folk song, Veronica Hermiston keeps coming back.
Some farmers in Prince Edward Island say they don’t want to take any chances when it comes to the possibility of another drought this year.
On the last day of Risha Golby’s life, she was forced out of the room at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver that had been her home for six weeks.