Ali Ghani, Prism, and Prism Summerside Development Corp. ordered to pay over $3.4M for misappropriating funds

CALGARY, AB, March 25, 2024 /CNW/ - The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has sanctioned Ali Ghani and the following entities he controlled for breaching Alberta securities laws and perpetrating a fraud on investors: Summerside Development Trust, Summerside Commercial Trust, Prism Summerside Limited Partnership, Prism Summerside Development Corp. and Prism Real Estate Investment Corporation.

An ASC panel previously found that between January 2013 and April 2018, Ghani and the other named entities misappropriated over $3.4 million from the development and sale of a strip mall in the Summerside neighbourhood of Edmonton, Alberta. Proceeds from the December 2017 sale of the strip mall were used for the benefit of other Ghani-controlled businesses and entities without authorization or disclosure to the investors, resulting in a total loss of their investments. 

The panel ordered Ghani and certain other entities to pay approximately $3.4 million to the ASC as a result of their non-compliance with Alberta securities laws, plus an administrative penalty of $325,000 and costs of $173,983. He was also ordered to resign from all positions he may have as a director or officer of any issuer, and he and the other respondents are subject to a broad array of permanent market-access bans.

In its decision, the panel noted that Ghani sought and obtained a personal benefit from the fraud and that "the serious and deliberate nature of the misconduct and the harm it caused suggest that severe sanctions are appropriate in this case."

A copy of the decision is available on the ASC website at asc.ca.

The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province's securities laws. It is entrusted with fostering a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and with protecting investors. As a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators, the ASC works to improve, coordinate and harmonize the regulation of Canada's capital markets.

SOURCE Alberta Securities Commission