A Fraser Valley man who raised nearly half a million dollars from various investors fraudulently presented himself as a successful day-trader, according to the B.C. Securities Commission.
William Wade Furman claimed to be registered under the Securities Act and capable of "generating high returns" for his clients when he convinced 10 investors to fork over $452,000 between April 2012 and June 2014, a BCSC panel found in a decision posted this week.
But the commission said Furman was not a licensed day-trader, and didn't have a successful trading history.
The panel determined Furman only ever transferred $229,000 of the money he received into trading accounts, and used the rest "primarily on (his) personal living expenses and loan repayments."
Most of the money he traded was lost, even though Furman provided clients with fake account statements that showed returns on their investments.
Furman apologized to one of the investors in an email quoted in the BCSC's decision, telling him "I am so incredibly sorry."
"I'm not going to attempt to explain myself, or make excuses for what has happened," it read. "I was responsible for your hard earned money and savings and like a complete idiot with serious mental issues I lost control, blew up and created a ridiculous mess of lies while hurting a lot of people that I cared about."
The panel determined Furman committed fraud in contravention of section 57(b) of the B.C. Securities Act. He will have until May 9 to respond before the commission decides what kind of sanctions he might face.
