François C. Desrosiers fined $40,000

Decisions and Freeze and cease trade orders Securities

Montréal – In a decision handed down on December 13, 2010, Judge Serge Boisvert of the Court of Québec (Criminal and Penal Division), district of Montréal, imposed fines totalling $40,000 on respondent François C. Desrosiers.

On October 12, 2010, François C. Desrosiers was found guilty on five counts brought against him by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), namely, four counts for aiding AntOro Resources Inc. with illegal distributions and one count for making a misrepresentation to the AMF by claiming that a distribution had not taken place.

As aggravating factors in support of imposing a fine that was higher than the minimum fine, Judge Boisvert referred to the fact that François C. Desrosiers was a seasoned financial professional who was aware of the rules governing distributions and that his actions were not isolated.

These are not François C. Desrosiers’ first offences under the Securities Act (the “Act”). In June 2010, he was fined $18,500 after being found guilty on 11 counts of failing to report, within the prescribed time period, transactions in the securities of Big Red Diamond Corporation and AntOro Resources Inc., two companies of which he was an insider. He was also fined $21,000 in June 2006 for late filing of insider reports with respect to Big Red Diamond, Melkior Resources Inc. and AntOro Resources Inc.

In July 2010, the AMF filed an additional suit comprising 84 charges against François C. Desrosiers and Korinor, a mining company of which he is a director that has been under a cease trade order since June 2006. The AMF is seeking fines of $707,000 with respect to this suit.

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

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