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Salmon Arm man receives suspended sentence, house arrest, for violating trading ban

Judge sentences man who breached trading ban to two years’ probation
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A Salmon Arm man found guilty in March of contravening the Securities Act has received a suspended sentence and two years’ probation.

In March 2020, Judge Mark Takahashi found 74-year-old Richard Good guilty of making a ‘deliberate and premeditated’ breach of an order of the BC Securities Commission between Dec. 2, 2012 and May 1, 2015 inclusive.

On May 5 of this year, Good and Judge Takahashi met again in BC Provincial Court, this time for sentencing under COVID-19 restrictions. According to a news release from the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC), the judge stated that due to the circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic, a suspended sentence and probation order, with terms similar to house arrest, would be more appropriate than a jail term. Under the terms of the probation order, Good is allowed to leave his house for just one hour per day.

Good is again prohibited from trading in securities except in accounts in his own name for his own financial purpose, through registered dealers who have been shown the court order. He is also prohibited from engaging in promotional activities that would encourage a person to purchase – or not purchase – a particular security.

Read more: Salmon Arm man guilty of ‘deliberate and premeditated’ breach of Securities Act

Read more: Salmon Arm man represents himself in securities trial

Good was charged with ‘engaging in investor relations activities’ despite being permanently banned in 2007 from doing so. The 2007 BCSC order stemmed from a $2.4 million investment scheme that Good orchestrated.

In that scheme, Good entered into various investment contracts with promises of generating high returns. Good invested only a fraction of the money he raised, using the rest for personal expenses and to return purported interest and capital investments to some investors.

Following an investigation by the BCSC’s Criminal Investigations Branch, Good was charged in 2019 for breaching the no-trading order and was convicted in March 2020.

Regarding his actions between 2012 and 2015, the court heard in March that Good, who was permitted by the order to purchase securities in only one account in his own name for his own financial purpose, as well as one tax free savings account with the same parameters, gained access to his wife’s investment account with a power of attorney.

In convicting Good, Takahashi found Good breached the BCSC order when he enticed the spouse of Good’s best friend and brother-in-law to invest her money through him.

“Good promised to use the woman’s money to invest in securities and to provide her with a profitable return. However, most of the funds went to Good’s personal expenses, with only a small portion invested,” stated the news release.



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Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
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