B.C. Man's Pension Funds Forfeited After $21.7-Million Investment Fraud

A B.C. man who committed a $21.7-million investment fraud against 700 investors will have his pension funds forfeited to the B.C. Securities Commission, according to a recent B.C. Supreme Court ruling that affirms new laws designed to claw back assets from fraudsters.

Justice Kevin Loo approved the commission’s application to order the forfeiture of registered “life income fund” (LIF) accounts from Earle Douglas Pasquill, who was found liable for committing fraud stemming from promoting his “Freedom Investment Club” in 2008. Pasquill was ordered to pay back $21.7 million of ill-gotten gains and issued a $15-million fine following an administrative hearing in 2014. He has not paid the commission a cent, to date. According to the commission, Pasquill perpetrated “one of British Columbia’s largest investment frauds,” although authorities, including the commission and RCMP, never brought criminal charges against him. The accounts total $551,349 as of April 2024 and Pasquill withdraws approximately $75,000 annually from them, the ruling noted. At the root of the legal case is two changes to the law in 2020 and 2023 allowing the commission greater leeway in collecting money from those who have violated the B.C. Securities Act. Before 2020, the Court Order Enforcement Act exempted registered accounts from forfeiture. With the law changed, the commission applied for a preservation order against the accounts; however, Pasquill successfully overturned the application at the B.C. Court of Appeal, in 2021. The court ruled the Pension Benefits Standards Act still exempted pension funds from seizure. So, the Ministry of Finance then went on to change language in the Pension Benefits Standards Act in 2023 to retract that exemption. The commission then went back to court to get Pasquill’s money. Pasquill argued the accounts did not constitute a pension within the legal meanin

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