News Release
ASC finds Ashmit Patel, Zulfikar Rashid and Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd. liable for market manipulation
Feb 04, 2021
CALGARY – February 4, 2021 – The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has issued a decision involving Ashmit Patel, Zulfikar Rashid and Kilimanjaro Capital Ltd., now known as N1 Technologies Inc. (Kilimanjaro), finding that they engaged in market manipulation contrary to the Securities Act (Alberta).
From March to August 2014, Kilimanjaro, a former Alberta-based reporting issuer, was the subject of a promotional campaign involving strategically-timed news releases that were coordinated with a “Tout Campaign”. An ASC panel found that Patel, Kilimanjaro's guiding mind and the architect of the market manipulation scheme, knowingly engaged in a course of conduct that contributed to a misleading appearance of trading activity in, and an artificial price for, Kilimanjaro shares. The panel found that the actions of Rashid and Kilimanjaro also contributed to an artificial price for Kilimanjaro shares, but dismissed similar allegations against two other respondents, Jonathan Levy and Gregory Scott Buczynski.
The ASC panel also found that Patel and Kilimanjaro breached a cease trade order issued by the ASC in April 2014 in relation to Kilimanjaro shares, and that Rashid provided misleading or untrue statements to the ASC when interviewed by ASC investigators in September 2014.
A hearing management session will be held on February 16, 2021 to outline the process required to determine what, if any, orders for sanction or cost-recovery ought to be made against Patel, Rashid and Kilimanjaro.
A copy of the decision is available on the ASC website at albertasecurities.com.
The ASC gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority.
The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province’s securities laws. It is entrusted to foster a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and to protect investors. As a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators, the ASC works to improve, coordinate and harmonize the regulation of Canada's capital markets.
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For further information please contact:
For Media Inquiries:
Theresa Schroder
Senior Advisor, Communications
media@asc.ca
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inquiries@asc.ca