VANCOUVER — The wife of financial fraudster Earle Douglas Pasquill is suing the B.C. Securities Commission for abuse of process.
The commission filed legal action in 2018 to get access to seven properties valued at $20 million held by, or in part held by, Pasquill’s wife Vicki. The suit is meant to help recover tens of millions of dollars in penalties levied by the securities commission against her husband in 2015.
The penalties were ordered by a securities commission tribunal against Earle Pasquill for his part in a fraud against nearly 700 investors. Pasquill was ordered to pay a $15-million fine and disgorge — or pay back — $21.7 million lost by investors.
A claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court in mid-December by Vicki Irene Pasquill and Vicker Holdings Ltd., a company which owns two of the seven properties, states the securities commission had no authority to bring the claim against the properties “which were based on frivolous factual and legal pretexts.” Vicki is the sole director of Vicker Holdings after Earle was dropped on March 27, 2015, the same day his penalties were announced.
In its legal action, the securities commission had claimed that Vicki — a teacher with an annual salary of $80,000 — would not have been able to buy the properties, pay the mortgages, maintain them and build up equity if she had not received the proceeds of the fraud perpetrated by her husband.
Vicki Pasquill has denied any wrongdoing and stated no money obtained from fraud was used to finance the seven properties, two of which were inherited. She has denied any knowledge of the securities fraud and her claim states that all but one of the properties were acquired long before the conduct that resulted in the penalties assessed against Earle Pasquill.
The legal action by the securities commission included registering certificates of pending litigation on the properties, which prevents the sale or transfer of a property or obtaining a mortgage.
Vicki Pasquill is claiming financial hardship, saying that as a 74-year-old now-retired teacher on a fixed-income, the certificates of pending litigation are making her unable to meet her “urgent need” to cover significant past due and imminent legal fees, tax liabilities and property expenses.
She is also claiming severe mental distress, including severe mental fatigue due to her inability to sleep. Most recently, this mental fatigue led to a serious fall resulting in a broken arm and cracked bones in her ankle and wrist, according to her court filing.
Her suit seeks payment for general, special and punitive damages, as well as aggravated damages and damages for mental distress.
The securities commission has not responded to the abuse-of-process claim that contains allegations not proven in court.
Vicki Pasquill’s claim alleges the securities commission brought the suit against her, and filed the certificates of pending litigation, to put pressure on her husband which would help the commission collect the penalties.
Pasquill’s suit says the security commission’s legal action is also an attempt to:
• Mitigate public-image damage resulting from media coverage during 2017-18 over the securities commission’s failure to collect more than $500 million penalties levied in a decade.
• Alleviate political pressure brought by the B.C. Ministry of Finance arising from the adverse media coverage.
• And meant to secure properties while changes were made to the B.C. Securities Act, claiming the changes are intended to make some of the properties available to recover penalties.
The media coverage refers to a Postmedia investigation that revealed the securities commission’s penalty collection rate was less than two per cent. Pasquill was among those highlighted in the investigation for not paying penalties.
The Pasquills live in a home assessed at $4.35 million in the west side of Vancouver, near the grounds of the private boys school St. George’s. The Postmedia investigation found the home had been in Pasquill’s and his wife’s names since 1995, but was transferred into Vicki Pasquill’s sole name in 2000 for $1, according to B.C. Land Titles documents.
As a result of the Postmedia investigation, the B.C. government called for changes to improve collections. In October of this year, the province introduced key amendments to the B.C. Securities Act, enhancing the securities commission’s ability to freeze and seize property transferred to third parties for below market value, and for the first time to seize registered retirement savings plans.
Transferring property to third parties — sometimes to spouses or other relatives — is a technique used by fraudsters to put assets out of the reach of regulators trying to collect on penalties.
