September 8, 2020 Securities

Montréal – On August 28, 2020, further to an application by the Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”), the Financial Markets Administrative Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) issued orders ex parte (with reasons to follow) in the public interest against Opération Phoenix inc. and Jonathan Forte in connection with apparent breaches of the Securities Act.

In its application, the AMF alleged, in particular, that Opération Phoenix inc. had offered securities covered by the Securities Act to the public by, among other things, selling “computational units” called C-Units (or “unités C”), through various means. According to the representations by Opération Phoenix inc., as reported in the application filed by the AMF, purchasing “C-Units” would entitle investors to receive income from the firm’s cryptocurrency mining activities.

The Tribunal ordered the respondents to cease carrying on any activity, directly or indirectly, in respect of a transaction in securities. Moreover, the Tribunal ordered Opération Phoenix inc. not to dispose, directly or indirectly, of funds, securities or other assets in its possession, including any cryptocurrency.

Furthermore, the Tribunal ordered Opération Phoenix inc. to withdraw any announcement, advertisement or other publication of the same nature in connection with the securities activities of Opération Phoenix inc., published or disseminated, directly or indirectly, via the Internet or any other means, including through its website and various social media.

Update

The Tribunal issued detailed reasons in support of this decision on September 8, 2020. On September 10, 2020, Opération Phoenix inc. and Jonathan Forte filed a notice of contestation with the Tribunal against the decision. The Tribunal will consider the notice of contestation at a yet-to-be held hearing on merit.

Call to investors

The AMF is continuing to investigate this matter. Anyone who has invested money with the respondents is therefore asked to contact Odile Simard, the investigator on the matter, as soon as possible ([email protected] or 1-877-525-0337, ext. 2609).

Prior decision issued by the Tribunal against Jonathan Forte and Laboratoire Blockchain inc.

On March 12, 2019, further to an application by the AMF, the Tribunal had previously ordered Jonathan Forte and another firm, Laboratoire Blockchain inc., among others, to cease carrying on any activity, directly or indirectly, in respect of a transaction in securities.

The Autorité des marchés financiers is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec’s financial sector.

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