The CEO of a real estate company is being ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars after she and her company were found to have committed fraud and other serious wrongdoings in BC.
Cherie Evangeline White, the owner and CEO of KingdomInvestments2015 Inc., had promised investors she’d use their money to flip residential properties for profit, with returns between 10 and 30%, according to a recent BC Securities Commission (BCSC) release.
The commission is an independent provincial government agency that monitors compliance and cracks down on those thwarting the rules. It found that the investors, some of whom were attracted by the company’s alleged shared spiritual values, were told they would be helping vulnerable people find housing through the scheme.
“Instead, the respondents used the investors’ funds to repay earlier investors, which the panel determined ‘is consistent with a Ponzi scheme.’ Some of the funds also went toward paying back a personal loan from White’s stepfather,” the commission said in part.
In total, the panel found that Kingdom had illegally distributed “more than $1.18 million worth of securities to 24 investors without a prospectus,” and investors lost some $776,000 as a result of the fraud.
Allegedly, White went so far as to go with an investor to their bank to get the money despite the bank staff urging the investor to act cautiously.
“The damage done to the investors in this case cannot be overstated,” the panel said, adding that White showed little to no remorse and that neither she nor her company cooperated in the enforcement process.
“Investors shared their anger, remorse for trust lost and shed tears while speaking of feelings of violation, disappointment, self-doubt, shame, regret, guilt and failure,” the commission found.
White is now required to pay the BCSC $275,771 for her company’s wrongdoings and an additional $350,000 for her personal misconduct. She is also banned from participating in BC’s investment market, except as an investor, and Kingdom is banned from trading its shares or advertising.