Alberta Securities Commission to seek out receiver to distribute frozen Narayan funds

The Alberta Securities Commission is heading to court in hopes of returning some of the money an Edmonton man defrauded from his investors.

Saileshwar Narayan, who raised millions to develop an RV park at Pine Lake near Red Deer and to invest in mortgages, was charged by the ASC earlier this year.

It’s believed he raised more than $2 million from Alberta investors, they were assured their funds would be invested in mortgages but instead he used it for personal use.

“We will go in and freeze funds as soon as we are legally able to do so,” said ASC spokesperson Alison Trollope. “The challenge is that by the time a complaint is lodged with us, the funds have typically been moved offshore or they have been spent. In this case they were spent on a very lavish lifestyle.”

The Alberta Securities Commission moved in and froze roughly $1.8 million in funds and they’re now making an application by the Court of Queens’ Bench to have that distributed by a receiver.

“We’ll work on this as soon as is practical, we’re working on expediting it but as soon as it’s in the court hands it’s really up to the court in terms of how long it takes to play out,” she said.

Trollope adds there were a few red flags for investors in this case including the fact that Narayan wasn’t registered to trade within the province.

He also promised rates of high returns, which she says “they weren’t worth the paper that they were written on” and the only time you’ll see something like this is usually from a bank in the form of a G.I.C.

Narayan’s now as a result, banned from acting as a registrant, investment fund manager or promoter, acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities.

All trading of his companies must also permanently cease.

In their ruling, the ASC panel ruled “given Narayan’s dishonesty in raising and spending investors’ money, we are of the opinion that he has little, if any, regard for truth when it comes to separating people from their money.”

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today