A Quebec man is appealing his sentence and conviction after being found guilty of 17 securities law violations.
The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) announced that Georges Pierre Jr. has been fined $47,000 and ordered to spend 90 days in jail after he was found guilty by the Court of Quebec of trading without registration, trading without a prospectus and misleading investors.
Pierre was convicted in July 2019 and sentenced on Feb. 26, the AMF said.
On Feb. 28, Pierre filed a notice of appeal from both decisions. He was released pending the outcome of the appeals.
The AMF alleged that Pierre Jr. “solicited and collected investments from members of his religious community” between 2010 and 2014.
“Over the years, the defendant has led investors to believe that the company was lending money, when in reality, it had never been able to generate economic activity,” the AMF said.
The AMF shut down the scheme in 2014.
Another defendant in the same case, Serge St-Martin, pleaded guilty to the three charges in 2017 and was fined $11,000.