BIM Committee Requests Regulatory Agencies Reinstate "Tick Test," Rescind SME Exemption, Initiate a Mandatory Pre Borrow and Advocates for Regulatory Reform

Alleged malfeasance condoned by Canada's financial regulatory agencies, the provincial governments of BC and Ontario, the Government of Canada, CIBC, TD Bank and others including  EY, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, Richardson Wealth, Blakes, Torys, BLG and Colson Winterstein

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2025) - Following the growing recognition of the damages caused by naked short selling highlighted at the recent Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada ("PDAC") conference in Toronto, the Bockhold Investment Management Committee ("BIM Committee"), on behalf of the clients of BIM Group at CIBC Wood Gundy Park Place, would like to provide an update on our campaign to bring awareness to the loopholes in Canada's self-regulated regime, the impact on public companies and their shareholders and the need for regulatory reform.

In conjunction with recent lawsuits filed by Harrington Global Opportunities Fund Ltd. and Quantum Biopharm Ltd. alleging market manipulation by CIBC, TD Bank and Royal Bank, Murray Bockhold, a former Wood Gundy Investment Advisor has filed a defence in BC Supreme Court in CIBC Wood Gundy v. Murray Bockhold, Vancouver Registry No. S-241997. The defence alleges that CIBC, TD Bank and others have used their Direct Electronic Access ("DEA") and Short Market Exemption ("SME") trading platform to enable illegal market manipulation using algorithms that employ techniques like "spoofing", "baiting" and the creation of counterfeit shares through a delinquent settlement process called a Fail-to-Deliver ("FTD") trade.

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization ("CIRO") and the Ontario Securities Commission acknowledge these techniques are illegal and have issued fines and enforcement against Echelon Wealth Management, Oasis World Trading and CIBC World Markets for illegal market manipulation.

Acting in good faith, BIM, the BIM Committee, Save Canadian Mining and others have made numerous attempts to engage in constructive discussions about regulatory reform which, thus far, have been ignored by all parties. Commenting on the campaign, Katherine Karbownik, a member of the BIM Committee adds, "We, the clients, have been harmed and wonder what credible institution refuses to fully and independently investigate when presented with a serious complaint and the compelling evidence to support it? Despite our repeated appeals to these very institutions that claim to protect us, we've been ignored. Not a scenario to retain or build trust."

The ineffectiveness of enforcement action in Canada's regulatory regime is demonstrated by the recent negligible penalty imposed against TD Bank for money-laundering. On May 2, 2024 Canada's self regulator, FINTRAC, imposed an "administrative monetary penalty" and stated:

"This penalty was imposed for administrative violations committed by The Toronto-Dominion Bank under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and its associated Regulations, and not for criminal offences for money laundering or terrorist activity financing."

On October 10, 2024 the TD Bank plead guilty to money-laundering and the US Department of Justice ("DOJ") disclosure stated:

"By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one," said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. "Today, TD Bank also became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, and the first US bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. TD Bank chose profits over compliance with the law - a decision that is now costing the bank billions of dollars in penalties. Let me be clear: our investigation continues, and no individual involved in TD Bank's illegal conduct is off limits."

"First US bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering." — US Department of Justice

FINTRAC fined TD Bank $9.2 million and made a point of stating there was no criminal malfeasance. Presumably based on the same set of facts, TD pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the US and three regulators fined TD Bank a total of US$3.1 billion and put an asset cap on their growth in the United States for a minimum of 4 years. It is reported that TD's US assets are $434 billion which, assuming 5% annual asset growth, implies an additional fine of US$87 billion.

Commenting on the difference between the enforcement action in Canada versus the United States, BIM Committee member Lorne Pringle stated: "It would appear that all of Canada's regulatory agencies are conflicted and the RCMP are notable by their absence. This reinforces the impression that there is no deterrent to criminal malfeasance in Canada."

The issue of naked short selling resulting in the issuance of counterfeit shares and illegal market manipulation like spoofing affects investors worldwide. In Canada, CIRO reported FTD's in 2023 of $121.9 billion¹ or $484 million daily and according to a petition published March 12, 2025 by We The Investors, average daily FTD's, or counterfeit shares, in the US in 2024 were US$2.9 billion or $730.8 billion annually. This $1.15 trillion of selling pressure artificially and illegally manipulates stock prices down and is a direct transfer of wealth from consumers to bank trading desks and hedge funds.

To restore the integrity of North American capital markets and provide adequate consumer protection, CIRO needs to ensure the proposed mandatory close-out amendments issued in their January 9, 2025 bulletin are implemented and take further steps that include:

1) Restore the 'tick test',
2) Rescind the SME trading platform,
3) Require a universal pre-borrow on all short sales,
4) Impose monetary fees or fines for FTD's, and
5) Institute new procedures to ensure mandatory enforcement

Recently, Elon Musk and the DOGE have announced their intention to investigate the SEC for fraud and corruption. The BIM Committee would like to extend an invitation to the DOGE to review the DOJ Case History filed in BC Supreme Court and enforce against the perpetrators for their alleged fraudulent activity which harms US public companies and their shareholders every bit as much as Canadian shareholders.

On Behalf of the BIM Committee, CIBC retail clients and investors worldwide.

CIBC Wood Gundy v. Murray Bockhold, SCBC Vancouver Registry Action No. S-241997
CIBC Wood Gundy v. Murray Bockhold, SCBC Vancouver Registry Action No. S-190711
US Bankruptcy Court District of Nevada Case No. 13-51496-GWZ
Gryphon Gold Corp. v. Waterton Resource Management, Inc. District of Nevada Case No. CV18-01557

¹ Calculated by BIM based on data from CIRO, TMX Group, CBOE/NEO and CSE

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