Michael Mitton has been charged in Ontario provincial court with improperly trading securities without registration and trading while still under a lifetime ban imposed in 2011 following a fraud conviction.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
A serial fraudster with more than 100 criminal convictions is returning to a Toronto courtroom in March after he allegedly continued to trade securities in Ontario despite a lifetime ban.
The Ontario Securities Commission said Friday that it has charged Michael Mitton in Ontario provincial court with improperly trading securities without registration and trading while still under a lifetime ban imposed in 2011 following a fraud conviction.
"Mitton's behaviour is notorious, having received approximately 100 criminal convictions since 1977 for fraud, forgery, false pretences, money laundering and related conspiracies," the OSC said in a release Friday.
Mr. Mitton, who lives in Montreal, has reportedly served four federal prison sentences for fraud, most recently a seven-year sentence in 2007 after pleading guilty to charges of market manipulation and money laundering for masterminding a pump-and-dump stock fraud in 2004 and 2005. He was also ordered to pay restitution to victims of $2.6-million (U.S.).
He was released on parole in 2011 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, but returned to jail in 2013 after his parole was revoked for breaching conditions prohibiting him from being responsible for investments and other financial matters. He was accused of incorporating a company and applying for a line of credit.
Mr. Mitton's assistant testified on his behalf at his 2013 parole hearing, reportedly telling the Parole Board that Mr. Mitton's parole supervisor should have monitored him more aggressively.
The trading ban imposed by the OSC in 2011 related to the same fraud matters as his 2007 criminal conviction. Mr. Mitton is also banned from trading securities in Alberta and British Columbia.
He is scheduled to appear in court in Toronto on March 13 on charges of breaching the Ontario Securities Act.
The OSC can impose fines up to $5-million and jail terms of up to five years less a day for breaches of the act that are prosecuted as quasi-criminal matters in provincial court.
Also Friday, the OSC charged Sunil Tulsiani of Brampton and Omar Maloney of Stouffeville, Ont., with trading securities while under OSC trading bans. The cases are unrelated to each other or to Mr. Mitton's case.
The OSC charges stemmed from an investigation by the commission's Joint Serious Offences Team, which is a partnership between the OSC, the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police.
Janet McFarland