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Business News | April 2008
Investors Receive Alert About Mexican Firms Cassandra Kyle - The StarPhoenix go to original
| Land Bankers International is the subject of a cease trade order by the Saskatchewan government. (Karen Longwell - Daily Herald) | | A Mexican-based company under investigation by the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission (SFSC) has contacted its Canadian investors with an admission it did not register to do business in Canada, according to the commission.
Correspondence from Sierra Madre MX, S.A. de C.V., to its 1,400 investors - the majority of whom are Canadian - says the company did not intend to conduct business in Canada and may have inadvertently, and with no malicious intent, made some mistakes, according to SFSC data. The document goes on to offer further investment opportunities with its "new company" Sierra Madre Holdings MX, the commission said in a news release.
"This is the same company operated by the same people, and is one of many name changes that this company and this group has done over the past number of years," stated Ed Rodonets, head of the SFSC enforcement branch.
Once estimated to number about 150, the SFSC now believes several hundred Saskatchewan residents have invested in the company, which is suspected of selling illegal shares.
A cease trade order was extended this week against Sierra Madre MX, S.A. de C.V., its representatives and its partner companies. Named in the order are Brian J. Wolf Zacarias, senior officer and major owner of Sierra Madre, Roger Ayuso, president of Landbankers International, Alan Hemingway, CEO of Sierra Madre and sales representatives Jason Rogers, Dave Urrutia and Ed and Kim Moore, all of whom are based in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
In an earlier interview, Rodonets said the operators of Landbankers International, Sierra Madre and L&B Landbanking Trust are one and the same.
In December 2007, a cease trade order was extended against Landbankers International MX, S.A. de C.V. and its representative Kelly Friesen of Warman. In January, a cease trade order was placed against Sonja McAdam of Christopher Lake, a representative of Landbankers International. In March, cease trade orders were placed against Sierra Madre and its representatives.
The orders direct the companies and their officers to cease trading in securities and exchange contracts and removes the right to use exemptions in Saskatchewan securities laws.
Saskatchewan residents who may have been contacted by Sierra Madre, its representatives or any related companies are asked to call Rodonets at 306-787-5936 to assist with the SFSC investigation.
ckyle(at)sp.canwest.com |
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