In the matter of Triglobal - Order to cease trading and acting as securities adviser against Mario Angelopoulos

Securities Decisions and Freeze and cease trade orders

Montréal – At the request of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the Bureau de décision et de révision en valeurs mobilières (BDRVM) issued a decision on February 4, 2008 ordering Mario Angelopoulos, who is attached to Triglobal Capital Management Inc., to cease any activity, directly or indirectly, in respect of a transaction in securities, in particular the debt securities of Focus Management Inc., and to cease carrying on activities directly or indirectly as an adviser.

In its decision, the BDRVM expressed concern about the following AMF allegations:

  • Mario Angelopoulos made distributions to Quebeckers in the form of debt securities with Focus;
  • The respondent presented these investments to an investor as no-risk investments and stated that a reimbursement was possible at any time prior to maturity in consideration of a penalty;
  • Despite the numerous steps taken with regard to Mario Angelopoulos and Thémistoklis Papadopoulos, the investor was only reimbursed $30,000;
  • This amount was reimbursed by PNB at the beginning of December;
  • Mario Angelopoulos told the investor that the time period required to reimburse the investment was due, among other things, to the numerous requests by investors for reimbursement and that if this situation continued "the fund could crash";
  • The investor fully trusted Mario Angelopoulos, who had been a family friend for 15 years;
  • Mario Angelopoulos knew, or should have known, that the Focus term loans proposed to investors would require a prospectus from the AMF, pursuant to sections 1 and 12 of the Securities Act;
  • The misrepresentations, the type of excuses and the explanations given by Mario Angelopoulos to the investor confirm the key role he played in these illegal distributions;
  • Mario Angelopoulos's integrity and competence may be highly questionable.

In the matter of Triglobal, several freeze and cease trade orders against related companies and individuals were issued on December 20, 2007 and January 24, 2008 by the BDRVM at the request of the AMF. In addition, provisional administrators were appointed to oversee the administration of the related companies.

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

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