A former cannabis company director has agreed to pay a $5,000 fine and not conduct any investment-related work for six years after admitting she illegally distributed securities.
The 小蓝视频 Securities Commission reached a settlement agreement on June 16 with Christine Mah, a 小蓝视频 resident and the former director of 小蓝视频-registered cannabis firm RoccaVerde Wellness Corporation.
While Mah was a RoccaVerde director between November 2018 and March 2019, the firm distributed securities 14 times for proceeds of $133,500 to investors without filing a prospectus and without being exempt from the prospectus requirement, the agreement states.
Mah was a signatory on the corporate bank account and was responsible for the day- to-day internal financial operations of the firm. Mah received and deposited investor payments as the firm’s financial controller.
The agreement states Mah did not ensure RoccaVerde complied with requirements to file a prospectus, a document detailing the investment opportunity, including risk factors. This failure, said the commission, violated Section 61 of the 小蓝视频 Securities Act.
The 小蓝视频SC said all the investors lost all their investments.
Mah was issued a hearing notice on Oct. 8, 2024. The commission stated in the agreement that Mah agreed to make early admissions with respect to the alleged misconduct prior to any liability hearing, and that she was co-operative and expressed remorse.
Mah’s six-year ban from participating in the investment market includes restrictions on becoming a registrant, a promoter, or a director or officer of any securities-issuing company. Furthermore, she cannot trade securities except in her own account through a registered dealer, the agreement states.
The October 2024 hearing notice included , who along with Mah, is among several company directors of three 小蓝视频-based companies alleged to have illegally distributed securities and/or conducted unregistered trading on behalf of RoccaVerde. The company no longer has active operations but once promoted projects in Italy, Croatia, Jamaica and South Africa.
RoccaVerde is alleged to have obtained $316,100 in proceeds by distributing its securities 23 times to 22 investors without filing a prospectus.
It is alleged in the hearing notice Griffiths “authorized, permitted or acquiesced in RoccaVerde’s contraventions of section 61 of the Act with respect to 10 distributions of RoccaVerde securities for proceeds of $192,600.”
RoccaVerde was formerly known as World Farms Corp., which appointed Griffiths president and CEO on Feb. 26, 2019, per a press release.
Griffiths currently runs consulting and lobbying firm Arthur Griffiths and Associates.
The allegations against Griffiths have not been proven by an administrative panel, and last October Griffiths told BIV he intends to challenge them.
The hearing for Griffiths is pending, .
On June 27, 2019, Proactive Investor reported World Farms Corp. was part of Crop Infrastructure Corp.’s portfolio and intended to go public. Crop became Vert Infrastructure Ltd., which applied for in 2021 after trading of its shares was in 2020 for “failure to maintain exchange requirements.”
