TORONTO, ON – October 1, 2006 - On October 1, 2008, Brian McCarthy, a senior executive of Betacom Corporation Inc., was convicted of one count of fraud in excess of $5,000, under section 380 of the Criminal Code by the Superior Court of Justice (Toronto Region). He was also acquitted of two counts of fraud.
The charges were laid following a joint investigation conducted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Greater Toronto Area, Integrated Market Enforcement Team (RCMP GTA IMET) and the Ontario Securities Commission.
Mr. McCarthy's conviction of fraud on the public relates to knowingly participating in recording false sales in Betacom's financial statements, including $1.1 million for the year ended February 28, 2003.
Betacom Corporation Inc. was a reporting issuer in Ontario and listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The company's head office was located in Mississauga, Ontario. The core business of Betacom Corporation concerned technologies and products to assist the visually impaired.
Brian McCarthy, a 55 year old resident of Oakville, Ontario, was a Director, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Betacom Corporation Inc. from 1997 to September 25, 2003, when he was removed from his position by the Board of Directors and an interim CEO was appointed.
On October 15, 2003, at the request of the company, the trading of Betacom Corporation Inc. shares was halted. Betacom Corporation Inc. also announced it intended to restate its audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2003 and the unaudited results for the three months ended May 31, 2003. Trading in the company's stock remained halted and on October 31, 2003, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice appointed KPMG Inc. as the interim receiver. In December 2003, Betacom Corporation Inc. declared bankruptcy.
From September 1, 2002 and October 15, 2003, the period in which false financial information was published by the company and relied upon by the public, the share price was in the range of $0.12 to $0.35. For this time period, there were 1,034 trades in Betacom's shares, for a total of 10,598,454 shares valued at $1,943,989. Betacom had 29,612,856 common shares outstanding on the TSX Venture Exchange. These shares have no value today.
Douglas McIntyre, the Chief Financial Officer, and Philip Spensieri, the Chief Operation Officer of Betacom Corporation Inc., each pled guilty to various counts of fraud over $5,000, pursuant to the Criminal Code. The details are as follows:
Douglas McIntyre, a chartered accountant who is 61 years of age, pled guilty to three counts of fraud over $5,000 on May 30, 2007. McIntyre was sentenced to a conditional sentence of 18 months.
Philip Spensieri, a chartered accountant who is 49 years of age, pled guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000 on August 20, 2007. Spensieri was sentenced to a conditional sentence of 2 years less a day, and ordered to perform 240 hours of community service, followed by one year probation.
IMET is part of the RCMP's Financial Crime Program and was created to protect the integrity of the Canadian economy and its capital markets. IMET brings together specialized investigative skills from the RCMP and participating agencies. IMET's goal is to detect, charge and prosecute those using capital markets to harm the economic interests of Canadians and ensuring that there is a genuine risk of being discovered, prosecuted and incarcerated because illegal economic activities steals from hard-working and law-abiding Canadians.
Mr. McCarthy is scheduled to appear on November 27, 2008 for sentencing.
For more information contact:
Sgt. Marc LaPorte
RCMP "O" Division Media Relations
Office: 519-640-7302
Cell: 416-992-4409
