Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission v. Sulja Bros. Building Supplies, Ltd. et al., 2011 ONSEC 16

Ontario Securities Commission

Citation: Sulja Bros. Building Supplies, Ltd. et al., 2011 ONSEC 16

Date: 2011-05-25

IN THE MATTER OF THE SECURITIES ACT, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.5, AS AMENDED

AND

IN THE MATTER OF SULJA BROS. BUILDING SUPPLIES, LTD., PETAR VUCICEVICH, KORE INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT INC., ANDREW DEVRIES, STEVEN SULJA, PRANAB SHAH, TRACEY BANUMAS and SAM SULJA

REASONS AND DECISION

Relating to Sulja Bros. Building Supplies, Ltd., Kore International Management Inc. and Andrew DeVries

Hearing: September 24 and 29, 2010

Decision: May 25, 2011

Panel: Patrick J. LeSage, Q.C. - Commissioner and Chair of the Panel Sinan O. Akdeniz - Commissioner

Appearances: Jonathon Feasby and Usman M. Sheikh - For Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission No one appeared for any of the Respondents for which these Reasons apply

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. BACKGROUND A. History of the Proceeding B. The Contested Proceeding Respondents C. The Non-Contesting Respondents D. The Allegations

II. ISSUES

III. EVIDENCE AND FINDINGS A. The Evidence B. Summary of Findings

1. Other Relevant Companies
2. The Investment Scheme (a) Misleading Press Releases (b) Sale of Sulja Nevada shares (c) Tracing of Profits

IV. ANALYSIS A. Did DeVries engage in unregistered trading, contrary to subsection 25(1)(a) of the Act?

1. The Law
2. Analysis B. Did DeVries engage in an illegal distribution, contrary to subsection 53(1) of the Act?
3. The Law
4. Analysis C. Did DeVries engage in conduct relating to Sulja Nevada securities that perpetrated a fraud, contrary to subsection 126.1(b) of the Act?
5. The Law
6. Analysis D. Did Kore Canada engage in market manipulation in respect of shares of Sulja Nevada, contrary to subsection 126.1(a) of the Act?
7. The Law
8. Analysis E. Did Sulja Nevada make statements in press releases of Sulja Nevada which were