Bridging Finance Principles Face OSC Penalties
The OSC is seeking significant penalties against the former executives of Bridging Finance, including fines of up to $1 million for each individual in court costs. David Sharpe, Natasha Sharpe, and Andrew Mushore are all facing penalties for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars, as well as intimidating witnesses and obstructing the regulators’ investigation.
The OSC staff is also pursuing disgorgement of funds received through fraudulent activities, and are seeking to bar the three individuals from holding directorial or executive roles, or acting as investment fund managers or promoters in Ontario in the future.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the court-appointed receiver for Bridging Finance, identified that the main fraudulent activities and misappropriations of funds were conducted by David and Natasha Sharpe and their collaborators, including Gary Ng and Sean McCoshen. They used Bridging Finance funds for personal gains and to facilitate other unauthorized transactions.
The investigations by the OSC revealed that Rishi Gautam, the former CEO of MJardin was wrongly implicated and was not part of the fraudulent activities carried out by the firm’s principals, particularly David and Natasha Sharpe, and Andrew Mushore.
