(Ottawa) The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal in December from a British Columbia couple who argue that their declaration of bankruptcy would wipe out millions of dollars in fines that a court ordered them to pay to the Securities Commission.
Published yesterday at 3:15 p.m.
The country’s highest court last March authorized Thalbinder Singh Poonian and Shailu Poonian to appeal a ruling by the British Columbia Court of Appeal; The hearing is now scheduled for December 6th.
Court documents show the Poonians were ordered by the British Columbia Securities Commission to forfeit millions of dollars in profits and pay a collective administrative penalty of $13.5 million for committing market manipulation.
The Poonians appealed the ruling in court, arguing that these debts should be discharged once they are discharged from bankruptcy.
The British Columbia Court of Appeal rejected her appeal last year. She agreed with the securities regulator that the penalty was a sanction for the couple’s fraudulent activities and would not go away once the bankruptcy ended.
The Securities Commission had found that the price of a stock traded on the TSX Venture Exchange had been manipulated. The Poonians were sentenced to administrative sanctions and reimbursement of the fruits of their plan.