Bridging Finance Former Executives Found Guilty Of Fraud, Bribery

The husband-and-wife team who ran Toronto private lender Bridging Finance Inc. committed fraud, took kickbacks and tried to mislead investigators about it, Canada's top securities regulator has ruled.

Ontario's Capital Markets Tribunal found that David Sharpe and Natasha Sharpe, Bridging's former top executives, misdirected millions in investor money for their own benefit. After regulators started probing the firm, David Sharpe then tried to intimidate potential witnesses, the tribunal said in a ruling Tuesday.

Bridging was put into receivership in 2021 by the Ontario Securities Commission over concerns that investor money was being misused. Investors placed an estimated C$2.1 billion ($1.5 billion) in Bridging-managed funds and are likely to lose the majority of it, according to documents filed by the receiver.

The tribunal examined three separate frauds. One concerned loans Bridging made to entities associated with Sean McCoshen, a businessman and backer of a proposed Alaska-to-Alberta railroad project. A McCoshen-related company, after receiving loans from Bridging, transferred nearly C$20 million to David Sharpe's personal account, investigators alleged — at least C$18 million of which actually belonged to Bridging investors.

Investigators also probed loans used to buy a management interest from Ninepoint Partners LP and loans Bridging made to companies associated with Gary Ng, former chairman of PI Financial, so that he could purchase a 50% interest in Bridging. In 2022, Ng himself was permanently banned from Canada's capital markets and fined a record C$5 million for falsifying collateral related to C$172 million in loans from three lenders, including Bridging.

The tribunal found that David Sharpe committed fraud related to the McCoshen and Ninepoint loans, while Natasha Sharpe committed fraud related to the Ninepoint and Ng loans.

It also found that Andrew Mushore, Bridging's chief compliance officer, indirectly participated in the Ninepoint fraud.

Penalties and costs will be determined at a later hearing.

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