Former B.C. mutual fund salesman Ian Thow fined $6 million

The British Columbia Securities Commission fined former mutual fund salesman Ian Gregory Thow $6 million and barred him from the province's capital markets for life on Friday.

The securities commission may never get tocollect the record fine it has imposed. The regulatory body typically does not collect fines in cases like these, so investors can recover as much as possible.

"We will subordinate any collections effort to any claims, actual or pending, by the victims," the BCSC's director of enforcement, Lang Evans, told CBCNews.ca.

In October, the BCSC ruled Thow took advantage of friendships with dozens of trusting investors to defraud them of at least $6 million, and possibly as much as $30 million, between 2003 and 2005.

Thow used to work for Berkshire Investments Group Inc. While there, testimony at a BCSC hearing showed he persuaded 26 clients to give him $8.7 million to invest in securities that didn't actually exist. Investors subsequently recovered $2.7 million.

Thow used the money to buy personal items, including luxury cars, a yacht, and a personal business jet.

The BCSC said Thow was the first person fined under legislative changes brought in since 2006. Under the older legislation, Thow would have faced a maximum fine of $250,000.

Earlier this month, Berkshire Investments agreed to pay a fine of $500,000 for failing to properly supervise Thow. Berkshire has also settled 29 investor claims for $4.1 million.

An RCMP criminal investigation into Thow is continuing. He's believed to be living in Seattle.