The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) announced yesterday that it had reached a settlement with Rene Laprade, former director of Sahara Energy Ltd. and former director, C.E.O. and president of Mirage Energy Ltd., regarding allegations that he engaged in illegal insider trading of Mirage Energy securities in February 2008.
According to the ASC, Laprade agreed to pay $10,000 to settle the allegations against him, plus $500 towards costs of the ASC investigation. Laprade also agreed to cease trading in securities and to refrain from relying on exemptions and from acting as a director of any issuer for 12 months.
Unlike the typical SEC settlement in the US in which defendants neither admit nor deny the allegations against them, the ASC announced that Laprade admitted in the settlement agreement that “he was aware of a business combination between Sahara Energy and Mirage Energy and sold his shares of Mirage Energy before the agreement was disclosed to the public. By doing so, he avoided a financial loss of $3,000.”
