The BC Supreme Court has ordered a man who perpetrated one of British Columbia’s largest investment frauds to pay the BC Securities Commission (BCSC) annual payments from two of his registered accounts.

The December 20 ruling means that Earle Douglas Pasquil, who owes the BCSC $36.7 million, must forfeit to the BCSC any payments from his two Life Income Fund (LIF) accounts. LIFs are a type of tax-deferred registered account, regulated by the federal government, that hold locked-in pension funds and other assets that can be withdrawn gradually during retirement. Pasquill withdraws approximately $75,000 annually from the LIF accounts.

The accounts total $551,349 as of April 2024 and any payments the BCSC receives from them will be made available to victims of the fraud.

The Supreme Court decision comes after amendments to the Pension Benefits Standards Act and the Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act in 2023 to make clear that certain pension derived funds are not exempt from enforcement processes arising from orders made under the Act. These amendments enhance the BCSC’s ability to collect BCSC-imposed penalties.

In 2014, A BCSC panel found that Pasquill and Michael Patrick Lathigee, who jointly directed and controlled the Freedom Investment Club, fraudulently raised a total of $21.7 million in 2008 through the sale of securities to nearly 700 investors without telling the investors about severe cash flow problems.

Pasquill owes the BCSC an administrative penalty of $15 million. He is also liable for another $21.7 million, representing the ill-gotten gains that he and Lathigee obtained directly or indirectly as a result of the fraud. Pasquill has not paid any of those sanctions.