Saverio Manzo Settles with the Ontario Securities Commission

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission today approved a settlement agreement reached between Staff and Saverio Manzo, who admitted to conduct contrary to the public interest relating to his trading in shares of Covalon Technologies Ltd. (“Covalon”). This was the second order made in the Covalon matter, following the order made September 2, 2011 in the matter of Anthony Ianno.

Saverio Manzo admitted that, in the period between January 2007 and April 2008, he purchased approximately 935,000 Covalon shares. He admitted that, in the period between November 2007 and April 2008, he engaged in trading in which he intended to raise or maintain the price of Covalon shares. A significant portion of his trades during this period created an uptick in the price of Covalon shares, and a significant portion of his trades occurred within 15 minutes of the close of the trading day.

Under the settlement agreement, Saverio Manzo is banned from trading securities (subject to certain exceptions) for a period of four years. He is also banned from acting as an officer or director of a public company, as a registrant, or as a promoter for a period of four years. Saverio Manzo has agreed to make a payment of $25,000 towards the Commission’s costs of the investigation in this matter, and a further voluntary payment of $25,000.

“This settlement marks the end of the proceedings related to trading by Mr. Ianno and Mr. Manzo in Covalon – trading in which they each acknowledged they raised or maintained the price of Covalon,” said Tom Atkinson, Director of Enforcement at the Ontario Securities Commission. “The sanctions include lengthy bans for each of Mr. Ianno and Mr. Manzo from participation in Ontario's capital markets and these sanctions are commensurate with our mandate to be forward looking in the protection of our markets”.

A copy of the Settlement Agreement and Order of the Commission in this matter are available on the OSC website at www.osc.gov.on.ca.

The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices and to foster fair and efficient capital markets and confidence in capital markets. Investors are urged to check the registration of any person or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC’s investor materials available at  www.osc.ca.

 

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