GrahamB wrote: An interesting statement was made by one of the posters here, that the recent charges by the Quebec regulatory authorities to several of the principles at Pyrogenesis, which at first might seem to reassure:
“Normally company usually states it regrets the decision and will respect OR just appeal..BUT NO NO NO - Peter is bold enough to say there are something bogus going on. I kept thinkng wow he knows something or someone specific that there are people with motives and that will be exposed. “
Stockhouse.com
How reliable are statements OF innocence by those being accused of fraud or white-collar crimes?
Well, we can look back in history:
This is what happens when you work to change things..First they think you're crazy, then they fight you, and then all of the sudden you change the world."Elizabeth Holmes on Theranos.
And even more recent,
Sam Bankman-Fried from FTX:
“I didn’t ever try to commit fraud on anyone,” Bankman-Fried said. “I saw it as a thriving business and I was shocked by what happened this month.” Sam Bankman-
Fried.https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/30/former-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-says-i-didnt-ever-try-to-commit-fraud.html
One of the biggest financial frauds in modern history is that of Enron.
Michael Anderson from the FBI wrote,that after he was indicted, Jeffrey skilling’s wrote to the Houston Chronicle article t "The Fall of Enron / Skilling Feeling the Heat.” , : “I did not and do not expect to be indicted. I committed no crime while I was at Enron and no one told me they were committing a crime. I believe in the American criminal justice system.”https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reminiscing-15th-anniversary-indictment-arrest-enron-michael-e-
so my summary of this, is that those were being charged, rarely seem to think that they are guilty or they have done anything wrong according to some of the high profile cases we've seen. What is the data show?
A study supported by the SEC reviewed by a sample of 30 convicted white collar offenders, focusing specifically on techniques they used to deny their criminality and on how they accounted for their adjudication as criminals.
‘Accounts of offenders took two general forms, justifications and excuses. Accounts shed light on motive neutralizations and vocabularies, illustrated underlying assumptions about what constituted culpable criminality versus acceptable illegalities, and demonstrated that some offenders were more successful than others in minimizing sanctions they received by virtue of the sufficiency of their accounts. The most consistent and recurrent pattern in interviews was denial of criminal intent, as opposed to the outright denial of any criminal behavior whatsoever.’https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/denying-guilty-mind-accounting-involvement-white-collar-crime
Bottom line, expressions of innocence from those underlying persecution, for white-collar, crimes by the accused, do not hold predictive value on guilt, or innocence. IMO
Always important to remember that these are allegations and need to be proven in court.
as one poster said. True.
I don’t know what the outcome will be, and yes, we can wait for the courts to decide, but it’s certainly not a positive sign in by view, to have the regulatory authorities coming after you, in this manner, allegations of fraud,and the AMF alleges that Mr. Pascali was in breach of section 199.1(2) of the Securities Act (Qubec), the “ AMF is seeking administrative penalties totaling $4.20 million against Mr. Pascali, and a disgorgement order of $9.57 million to the AMF also from Mr. Pascali. The AMF is also seeking administrative penalties totaling $550,000 against the Company. Separately, the AMF is also seeking orders prohibiting Mr. Pascali and Mr. Curleigh to act as an officer or director of a reporting issuer for 5 years.”https://stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2023/08/31/pyrogenesis-provides-update-on-amf-investigation
It’s a aggressively waving red flag for me, and I won’t be here much other than to follow up on the financials and objective data.
I’m staying clear from investing at this point, those who are staying long and strong, good luck to you. You’re going to need it I think.
This is all in my opinion, and that's all that it is. Based on my understandings of securities, of past history's,
Everyone should do their own due diligence, and they should invest or not invest based on their own situation, risk factors, etc. etc.
I do think that when a regulatory authority has an action proposed against the CEO, it's something that we should pay attention to. Those who ireassure us hould also be questioned
qll IMO