stockwatch.com Asante Gold sued by former president MacQuarrie
2024-07-22 20:14 ET - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell
Asante Gold Corp.'s founder and former president, Douglas MacQuarrie, has filed a $1.11-million lawsuit against the company in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Mr. MacQuarrie claims that Asante has failed to repay a loan he made to the company and that Asante has no intention of handing over the money. He is seeking the court-ordered payment, plus an order for 1.17 million shares that he says the company owes him.
The allegations are contained in a notice of claim that Mr. MacQuarrie filed at the Vancouver courthouse on July 16, 2024. Mr. MacQuarrie identifies himself as having had roles with Asante going back to May, 2011, with those roles including being president, chief executive officer and a director. He says that he remained with the company as its chairman until April 24, 2024, when the board did not nominate him for re-election.
The debt at issue, as set out in the suit, goes back to February, 2016, when a private entity that Mr. MacQuarrie controls began lending money to Asante. The initial amount, of $975,009, was to be repaid by March 19, 2022, but that did not occur, the suit states. The amount owing, meanwhile, continued to grow as Asante failed to pay fees for director services, Mr. MacQuarrie claims. He says that he also incurred expenses on Asante's behalf, which the company failed to reimburse.
On top of those claims, Mr. MacQuarrie says that Asante owes him shares. According to the suit, he was entitled to restricted and deferred share units as part of his compensation. After Asante effectively dismissed him from the board, he made a written demand for those shares, but the company has "failed, refused, or otherwise neglected" to resolve the matter to his satisfaction, the suit claims. In all, he says that the company owes him 1,178,081 shares or their cash equivalent (which would be $1.3-million at the company's most recent close).
Mr. MacQuarrie is seeking a judgment for the money and shares he claims are owing, plus interest and court costs. Vancouver lawyer Patrick Sullivan of WT BCA LLP filed the lawsuit on behalf of Mr. MacQuarrie and a company that Mr. MacQuarrie controls, MIA Investments Ltd.
Asante has not yet filed a response to the suit. The stock closed at $1.10 Monday, unchanged.
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