The Canadian securities regulator suspects a fund manager of the Dutch investment company Plethora of insider trading. According to the Canadian authorities, 39-year-old Douwe van H. traded in stocks of the small Canadian gold exploration company Westhaven Gold in 2018 with insider knowledge, the Financieele Dagblad reported.
Van H.’s employer called the allegations “absurd.” The man himself wouldn’t comment to FD.
The case is not yet on trial. A preliminary hearing against the Dutchman is scheduled for Wednesday in a Canadian court. The BC Securities Commission (BCSC), the financial regulator for the province of British Columbia, announced the suspicions against Van H. and his arrest in June, but this went unnoticed in the Dutch media.
The BCSC suspects that Van H. abused inside information in 2018 about Westhaven Gold, a company in which the Plethora Precious Metals Fund was a major shareholder. According to the regulator, the CFO of Westhaven, Shaun Pollard, tipped off the Dutch fund manager that Westhaven would soon report promising results with exploratory gold drilling in British Columbia, prompting Van H. to invest in these stocks. In the fall of 2018, Westhaven made the announcement, and the penny stock’s price skyrocketed by 800 percent.
The Canadian authorities arrested Pollard in September last year. His trial is scheduled for September 23. A BCSC spokesperson told FD that Pollard and Van H.’s cases are handled separately. The spokesperson would not disclose the amount of money involved in the suspected illegal securities trading.
Van H. had a bail hearing in Vancouver in May and was released without travel restrictions after paying 150,000 dollars.
The Dutch investment firm Plethora invests in precious metals exploration in Europe and North America with two funds. Since 2014, the company has invested tens of millions of euros for approximately 60 wealthy Dutch people.
Plethora founder Peter Vermeulen told FD that the legal proceedings against Van H. are a “private matter” that is “completely separate” from the funds. He said Van H. considers the allegations against him “absurd.” Vermeulen has taken over as fund manager while the case is ongoing. FD could not reach Van H. for a comment.
According to FD, it is rare for the BCSC to take cases of insider trading to court rather than settling the case itself with a fine. The last report of insider trading the BCSC filed with the Canadian prosecutor was filed five years ago.
