A B.C. man who committed a $21.7-million investment fraud against 700 investors will have his pension funds forfeited to the B.C. Securities Commission, that affirms new laws designed to claw back assets from fraudsters.
Justice Kevin Loo approved the commission’s application to order the forfeiture of registered “life income fund” (LIF) accounts from Earle Douglas Pasquill, who was found liable for committing fraud stemming from promoting his “Freedom Investment Club” in 2008.
Pasquill was ordered to pay back $21.7 million of ill-gotten gains and issued a $15-million fine following an administrative hearing in 2014. He has not paid the commission a cent, to date.
According to the commission, Pasquill perpetrated “one of British Columbia’s largest investment frauds,” although authorities, including the commission and RCMP, never brought criminal charges against him.
The accounts total $551,349 as of April 2024 and Pasquill withdraws approximately $75,000 annually from them, the ruling noted.
At the root of the legal case is two changes to the law in 2020 and 2023 allowing the commission greater leeway in collecting money from those who have violated the B.C. Securities Act.
Before 2020, the exempted registered accounts from forfeiture.
With the law changed, the commission applied for a preservation order against the accounts; however, Pasquill successfully overturned the application at the B.C. Court of Appeal, in 2021. The court ruled the still exempted pension funds from seizure.
So, the Ministry of Finance then went on to change language in the Pension Benefits Standards Act in 2023 to retract that exemption.
The commission then went back to court to get Pasquill’s money.
Pasquill argued the accounts did not constitute a pension within the legal meaning.
Justice Loo, however, cited Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionary definitions of a pension to rule a LIF is a pension within the meaning of the law.
Pasquill also argued he’s no risk to re-offend but Loo noted the objectives of disgorgement orders and administrative penalties is to deter potential wrongdoers generally.
Loo also found the law allowed for retrospective application.
The commission noted Pasquill does not need the funds to live, considering he sent the 2024 disbursement to his daughter in El Salvador.
The decision is and prompted a from the commission on Dec. 27.
