B.C. Securities Commission denies abuse of process in pursuit of properties to collect on $31.7 million in penalties
Credit to Author: Gordon Hoekstra| Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:35:50 +0000
The B.C. Securities Commission has responded to a civil lawsuit from the wife of financial fraudster Earle Douglas Pasquill, denying its efforts to collect tens-of-millions of dollars in penalties owed by him via properties she owns is an abuse of process.
In a response filed in B.C. Supreme Court in early January, B.C. Civil Forfeiture denied all allegations in Vicki Irene Pasquill’s claim filed in December.
“The plaintiff’s allegations … and the entirety of the notice of civil claim are frivolous and vexatious, and an abuse of the court’s process. The notice of civil claim ought to be struck in its entirety,” wrote the civil forfeiture office in its response.
The commission filed legal action in 2018 to get access to seven properties valued at $20 million held by, or in part held by, Pasquill’s wife Vicki. The suit is meant to help recover penalties levied by the commission against her husband in 2015.
The penalties were ordered by a commission tribunal against Earle Pasquill for his part in a fraud against nearly 700 investors. Pasquill was ordered to pay a $15-million fine and disgorge — or pay back — $21.7 million lost by investors.
A claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court in mid-December by Vicki Pasquill and Vicker Holdings Ltd., a company that owns two of the seven properties, states the commission had no authority to bring the claim against the properties, “which were based on frivolous factual and legal pretexts.” Vicki is the sole director of Vicker Holdings after Earle was dropped from the firm on March 27, 2015, the same day his commission penalties were announced.
In its response, the commission said it had commenced a valid claim and the action has been brought as part of its mandate to maintain the integrity of, and public confidence in, the securities market in B.C.
In its legal action, the commission had claimed that Vicki — a teacher with an annual salary of $80,000 — wouldn’t have been able to buy the properties, pay the mortgages, maintain them and build up equity if she hadn’t received the proceeds of the fraud perpetrated by her husband.
Vicki Pasquill has denied any wrongdoing and stated that no money obtained from fraud was used to finance the seven properties, two of which were inherited. She has denied any knowledge of the securities fraud and her claim states that all but one of the properties were acquired long before the conduct that resulted in the penalties assessed against Earle Pasquill.
The legal action by the commission included registering certificates of pending litigation on the properties, which prevents the sale or transfer of a property, or obtaining a mortgage.
Vicki Pasquill is claiming financial hardship, saying that as a 74-year-old now retired teacher on a fixed income the certificates of pending litigation are making her unable to meet her “urgent need” to cover significant past-due and imminent legal fees, tax liabilities and property expenses. She is also claiming severe mental distress, including mental fatigue due to her inability to sleep.
Her suit seeks payment for general, special and punitive damages, as well as aggravated damages and damages for mental distress.
The commission action against the Pasquills came after a 2017 Postmedia News investigation revealed that the commission hadn’t collected more than half-a-billion dollars in penalties levied in a decade. Pasquill was among those highlighted in the probe for not paying penalties.
The Pasquills live in a home assessed at $4.35 million in the west side of Vancouver. The Postmedia investigation found the home had been in Pasquill and his wife’s names since 1995 but was transferred into Vicki Pasquill’s sole name in 2000 for $1, according to B.C. Land Titles documents.