Coquitlam man pleads guilty to securities violations after investment club loses $1 million

Following the collapse of a South Vancouver real estate deal, Coquitlam resident Brent Wai Keun Chow was fined $9,000 for unregistered trading and illegal distribution, following his guilty plea in Vancouver Provincial Court.

Chow ran a numbered company that did business as the Owl Investment Club. In 2017 and 2018, Chow raised money from two investors to buy and develop property in South Vancouver. Chow gave the investors promissory notes totalling $350,000.

A third investor contributed $500,000 as part of a joint venture agreement with Chow.

Chow struck a deal with the property owner in the spring of 2018 to buy the land for $30.5 million. The arrangement involved Owl Investment Group paying a $2-million non-refundable deposit, according to a release from the B.C. Securities Commission.

By using the money Chow had raised from his investors, Owl Investment Club paid $1 million toward the deposit.

The deal collapsed the following month. Chow couldn’t get financing to pay the second instalment of the deposit, “nor the remaining $30.5 million to complete the purchase,” according to the release.

After failing to get any of the $1 million deposit back, Owl Investment Club declared bankruptcy in October 2019.

The B.C. Securities Commission investigated and determined Chow was illegally distributing securities.

Besides not being registered, Chow also failed to file a prospectus with details about his investments with the B.C. Securities Commission.

His $9,000 fine includes a 15 percent victim fine surcharge.

Besides the fine, Chow received two years probation and is barred from running a private investment club as well as selling, buying, trading, distributing or promoting securities.

He is also prohibited from contacting the victims.