VANCOUVER -- Three North Shore residents are facing fraud allegations under the B.C. Securities Act, according to the B.C. Securities Commission.
The BCSC alleges that West Vancouver residents John Sand and Jolyon Charles Christopher Gulston, along with North Vancouver resident Karol Achs, defrauded two investors of $600,000.
The trio allegedly told the investors they would use the money to build a facility to produce zinc-air fuel cell batteries, claiming orders to purchase the batteries had already been received. There were no such orders, according to the BCSC.
Instead, the three alleged fraudsters used roughly $430,000 for other purposes, including cash withdrawals, credit card payments and payments to themselves and others, the BCSC said in a news release.
The commission also alleges that Gulston made false or misleading statements to two other potential investors. Among those statements, the BCSC said, were assertions that there were enough orders for the batteries to keep the supposed facility busy for several years, that battery production was expected to begin within a couple of months and that there was already a profitable assembly plant for the batteries in Washington State, which was being duplicated in Vancouver.
The allegations against Sand, Gulston and Achs have not been proven, the BCSC said, adding that the commission will schedule a hearing in January.
