Alberta investments meant for Mexican business used to buy B.C. home

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A former Grande Prairie man who sold investors on a Mexican business venture used most of the money he raised through stock offerings to buy a BC home, Alberta’s investment watchdog has found.

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Logan Keith Shaw and a numbered company he controlled, 1681502 Alberta Ltd., raised $940,000 from six investors who believed their investments would be used to develop and install point-of-sale technology in Mexican taxis, an Alberta Securities- panel hearing.

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Instead, days after securing the money for his Mexicar Inc. business, Shaw used about $808,000 of the fund to buy a home in Vernon, BC. The account was also used for other personal expenses, investigators found.

“We have no doubt that Shaw’s actions were deliberate and calculated to cause monetary loss to the investors – that is, monetary loss was not merely a foreseeable risk but an intended outcome,” the panel said in wrote his decision.

Shaw, who represented himself at trial, collected the investments between September and October 2012. Mexicar was only incorporated in Alberta in July 2013, with Shaw as its sole director and shareholder, the ruling said.

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“It did not appear to be running any business, nor did it have a bank account,” the decision reads.

The largest contribution came from an unidentified Calgary businessman who put $500,000 into the venture, according to ASC documents. It wasn’t until October 2017, five years after his initial investment, that he learned Shaw had used the money to buy the Okanagan home.

Shaw repaid the Calgary man’s $500,000 investment, plus $24,000 in interest, the decision shows.

The ASC review will continue to determine what, if any, sanctions or cost recovery should be made against Shaw.