Man duped investors by selling shares for resort that wasn’t built: commission

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Securities Commission is accusing a man of defrauding investors out of $640,000 by selling shares in a ski resort that was never built.

The commission says that between August 2007 and January 2012, Ron McHaffie raised money for the BigFoot resort, which he said would be constructed in the mountains east of Chilliwack.

But the commission says McHaffie bilked 30 people and had never registered to sell securities in B.C.

The commission, which will set a date for a hearing into the matter on June 25, says McHaffie misled investors by saying their money would be used to get BigFoot publicly listed before construction began near Jones Lake.

The notice of hearing says that instead, McHaffie used the funds himself to pay for gas, restaurant meals and groceries.

In the notice about the allegations, which have not been proven, the commission says the B.C. government rejected BigFoot’s proposal in September 2010 but that McHaffie continued to raise $111,000 after that.