On May 14, 2015, the British Columbia Securities Commission issued a decision in which it dismissed a fraud allegation by its Executive Director against the respondent, former hedge fund manager Jon Richard Carnes, in connection with his involvement in a short-selling campaign against a Canadian mining company with multiple mines in China.

The Commission found that none of Mr. Carnes’ misstatements in a 2011 report on the mining company constituted a prohibited act for the purposes of fraud under section 57(b) of the Securities Act, RSBC, 1996.

The Commission further dismissed the Executive Director’s application for an order in the public interest against Carnes, finding that none of his conduct was clearly abusive to the capital markets.

We appeared for the respondent in these proceedings with a team that included Shayne Strukoff and Joanne Kuroyama.