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by Mike Caswell

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has permanently banned Andrew McAlpine, a former Toronto broker who was part of a scheme to boost Argus Worldwide Inc., a company that was supposedly developing a cellphone. The SEC said that he manipulated the stock using offshore accounts amidst a $6.6-million pump-and-dump. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) His trading came as spam e-mails predicted the stock would be "soaring by over 200%."

The ban for Mr. McAlpine is contained in a proposed judgment filed on Monday, April 29, in federal court in California. The judgment permanently bars him from penny stocks and imposes terms barring future violations. The ban represents a negotiated settlement, and still requires approval from the judge.

For Mr. McAlpine, the ban resolves just one of his legal problems. He previously pleaded guilty in a related criminal case, and received six months of house arrest. Prosecutors had not sought a jail term, citing Mr. McAlpine's co-operation. Among other things, Mr. McAlpine provided documents to the government and travelled to the United States for interviews with prosecutors and the FBI. Prosecutors did not say exactly what his information related to, but they did say that it led directly to the government obtaining guilty pleas from two other individuals.

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