Island man who ran Ponzi scheme permanently banned from financial markets

The B.C. Securities Commission logo in an undated file photo.

A Vancouver Island man who ran a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme in Ontario has been banned from B.C.'s financial markets by the provincial securities regulator.

The B.C. Securities Commission issued the permanent ban to Christopher Uitvlugt in a decision last week. 

Uitvlugt's "last known residence was in Saanichton, B.C.," according to a news release from the BCSC.

In 2018, he pleaded guilty in Ontario to one count of fraud over $5,000, one count of possession of property obtained by crime and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud.

The charges stemmed from Uitvlugt's role as CEO of Next Level Investments, an Ontario company that promised investors the opportunity to make a 550-per-cent return on three-month term investments, according to the BCSC.

"These profits were supposed to be gained through Uitvlugt's foreign exchange trading," the commission said in its release.

"Instead, it was a Ponzi scheme."

A total of 874 people invested roughly $4.8 million, but only about $24,000 was used for foreign exchange trades, the BCSC said.

Most of the money was used to pay out investors and on personal expenses, including "Lamborghini and Audi vehicles," according to the commission.

Most investors received nothing from their investments, the BCSC said, adding that Uitvlugt was sentenced to five years in jail and subject to a forfeiture order.

“The size and scope of Uitylugt’s misconduct demonstrates that he is a significant risk to the public and the capital markets,” a panel of the commission wrote in its decision on sanctions.

“We find that he is unfit to participate in the capital markets of British Columbia and that permanent prohibitions are warranted.”

Uitvlugt was offered the opportunity to participate in a hearing before the panel, but he did not do so, the BCSC said.

The BCSC panel imposed sanctions on Uitvlugt that ban him from:

• Trading in or purchasing any securities, derivatives or registered accounts
• Becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer or registrant
• Becoming or acting as a registrant or promoter
• Advising or acting in a management or consultative capacity in the securities or derivatives markets
• Engaging in promotional activities by or on behalf of an issuer, security holder, party to a derivative, or a person that is reasonably expected to benefit from the promotion
• Engaging in promotional activities on his own behalf that would reasonably be expected to benefit him, and
• Relying on any exemptions of the Securities Act, the regulations or a decision.