Vancouver (November 26, 2019) – The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) panel found Todd Norman John Bezzasso and his companies, Bezzaz Holdings Group Ltd. and Nexus Global Trading Ltd., committed fraud against 85 investors using a Ponzi scheme. He raised $5 million through his companies although investor funds were not used as promised. Instead of investing, he used large portions of the funds to pay revenue to earlier investors. Additionally, Wei Kai (a.k.a. Kevin) Liao, who had been engaged by Bezzasso to find investors on his behalf, has been found committing fraud against one investor. Liao failed to tell the investor about repayment problems.
Update (July, 20, 2020):
Todd Norman John Bezzasso and Wei Kai (a.k.a. Kevin) Liao have been ordered to pay fines of $6.3 million by the BCSC on July 16 for operating a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme. As a result of their misconduct, Bezzasso is ordered to pay an administrative penalty of $4.5 million, and Bezzasso, Bezzaz, and Nexus are jointly ordered to pay a financial sanction of $1,619,563, representing the amount they obtained or avoided losing as a result of the misconduct. Liao is ordered to pay $100,000 in administrative sanctions and a financial sanction of $68,530, representing the amount he obtained or avoided losing as a result of his misconduct. In addition to the fines, Bezzasso was permanently banned from B.C.’s securities industry. Liao was banned for 15 years.
The BCSC found Todd Norman John Bezzasso committed fraud against his investors with a Ponzi scheme. He raised $5 million from 85 investors through his companies Bezzaz Holdings Group Ltd. and Nexus Global Trading Ltd. Bezzasso.
Bezzasso engaged Wei Kai (a.k.a. Kevin) Liao to find investors on his behalf. The BCSC found Liao committed fraud against one investor. He failed to inform the investor about repayment problems of other investors due to the Ponzi scheme.
The businessmen showed promotional material to investors that promised return rates of five to 30 percent when investing in the company Bezzaz. The return rates were supposed to be payable through post-dated cheques.
However, the BCSC panel found that investor funds were not used as promised. The panel detected that large portions of the funds were never invested, instead, it was used to pay earlier investors in the manner of a classic Ponzi scheme.
Subsequently, the panel found Bezzasso and both of his companies committed fraud against all 85 investors and that Liao committed fraud against one investor. Furthermore, the panel found that Liao sold securities worth $1.6 million to 27 investors without being registered and that he acted as an adviser to 12 investors without being registered.
The panel will impose sanctions after considering submissions from BCSC staff and the respondents. Anyone who wishes to report information confidentially on this or a similar incident may contact D. Slenys at Investigation Counsel PC. Anyone who wishes to inquire fraud recovery information on their own case, or wishes to report fraud with whistleblower protection, please contact D. Slenys at 416-637-3151 or dslenys@investigationcounsel.com.
