Sydney Klein Sentenced After Guilty Plea to Fraud Charges

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced today that Sydney Klein, of Thornhill, Ontario, was sentenced to two years of probation with conditions at the Ontario Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ontario.

Klein’s conditions require him to cease trading in securities, to refrain from acting in, and to resign, from any officer or director positions in any corporation registered in Ontario or Canada, and to refrain from calling any place in or outside of Canada for the purpose of trading in any security. 
Following an investigation by the OSC’s Joint Serious Offences Team (JSOT), Klein pleaded guilty to one count of defrauding the public, contrary to Section 380(1)(b) of the Criminal Code.

In November 2015, Klein was charged after an investigation revealed that he was operating a boiler room scheme that used dormant shareholder lists to make fraudulent solicitations to investors by telephone.

JSOT was established by the OSC as an enforcement partnership between the OSC, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Financial Crime program and the Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets Branch. The primary objective of JSOT is to protect investors and further enhance confidence in the Canadian capital markets through effective enforcement. This is accomplished through collaborative investigations of serious violations of the law using the provisions of the Securities Act or the Criminal Code. 

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 the capital markets. Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available at www.osc.ca

-30-