Next week, the Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether to hear an appeal from a British Columbia man facing a US$30-million judgment against him in an enforcement action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In May 2022, the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ordered Fred Sharp, a West Vancouver resident, to pay US$21.8 million in disgorgement and US$7.2 million in interest stemming from an SEC enforcement action alleging violations of securities law in connection with a long-running pump-and-dump scheme involving U.S. microcap companies.
The SEC then sought to enforce that judgment in B.C. And, in a 2024 decision, the Supreme Court of B.C. granted the regulator summary judgment, enforcing the U.S. court order against Sharp in B.C.
On appeal, Sharp sought to argue that the judge erred in that decision by finding that there was no need for a trial to determine whether the B.C. court should enforce the U.S. court’s order, and that the judge improperly put the burden of proof on Sharp to establish that there was need for a trial.
Among other things, he sought to argue that the Massachusetts court didn’t have jurisdiction to make its order, and that he wasn’t properly served in the case.
However, the appeal court rejected his argument in a 2025 decision, finding that, “Sharp has identified no reviewable error in the judge’s conclusion that there was no triable issue regarding the existence of a real and substantial connection between the Massachusetts court and the subject matter of the dispute which resulted in the foreign judgment.”
“… [T]he judge took the proper approach to the question of jurisdiction given the specific context of this case, and she did not err by finding that the evidence before her did not give rise to a triable issue,” the court said.
It also dismissed his other grounds for appeal.
Now, Sharp is seeking to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, which will issue its decision on whether to grant leave for appeal on June 25.