The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) announced March 12 that it has reached a settlement agreement with an Abbotsford, B.C. man and his former company for market manipulation.

Robert Logan Dunn, the president and director of Mosaic Holdings Inc., admitted that in 2012 he paid a stock promoter $72,161 USD to promote Forum National Investments Ltd.

The BCSC says the promoter published materials that contained “grossly promotional statements” about Forum, a B.C. company with shares that traded on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board market in the U.S.

Dunn and Mosaic admitted that this promotional material resulted in, or contributed to, an artificial price in Forum's shares. At the time, Dunn was also trading Forum's shares for himself.

While the BCSC says Dunn and Mosaic's conduct in paying the promoter “was an inadvertent and unintentional breach of the Securities Act, they admitted that they should have known it would result in or contribute to a misleading appearance of trading activity or artificial price for Forum's shares.”

As part of the settlement, Dunn has agreed to pay $35,000 to the BCSC. He is also prohibited for five years from trading in or purchasing securities or exchange contracts (with some limited exceptions). He is also subject to other restrictions

A hearing into the BCSC's allegations against Forum is scheduled to take place in April 2020.