Owners of a hops farming company that put down roots in the Seabird Island area is now facing fraud charges.
The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) panel recently announced that they found the director and marketing director of Fraser Valley Hops Farm Inc. illegally sold company shares with a combined value of approximately $1.9 million.
The founders of Fraser Valley Hops Farms – Alexander Bridges (also known as Alexander Blackwell) and Shane Harder-Toews – leased a 125-acre farm with the apparent intention of growing hops for craft brewing in the Seabird Island area. Their first harvest was due in 2017, about a year after Bridges and Harder-Toews founded the company.
A total of 13 investors provided funds for Fraser Valley Hops Farms based on assurances that the money would be used for farm operations. The BCSC reported that $1.9 million was deposited into an account controlled by Bridges with at least $498,000 of those funds going toward expenses with no “potential legitimate use,” including personal use. This alleged diversion of funds was found to be fraud under the Securities Act.
The panel agreed that Bridges and Harder-Toews sold investors securities without a prospectus, which is a formal document providing the details of the investment. Since there was no prospectus, the panel found that Bridges and Harder-Toews illegally distributed securities.
Neither Bridges nor Harder-Toews or any other representative of Fraser Valley Hops Farms attended the commission hearing, which took place this spring. The BCSC panel has since directed the executive director and respondents to make submissions on sanctions.
The BCSC is an independent government agency responsible for enforcing the Securities Act in an effort to ensure the safety of investments.
