B.C. man fined $18.4 million for using clients’ crypto funds to gamble
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A former B.C. resident has been fined $18.4 million for using millions of customers’ deposits to his cryptocurrency trading platform on gambling.
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The B.C. Securities Commission found David Smillie and his company, 1081627 B.C. Ltd. operating as ezBtc, committed fraud by diverting nearly $13 million in customer assets to gamble.
The fines against Smillie and the company was $10.4 million — the amount diverted, minus repayments to customers — and Smillie is also ordered to pay an $8 million administrative penalty for the misconduct.
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In a decision earlier this year, a commission panel wrote that Smillie and ezBtc “fraudulently diverted their customers’ crypto assets for their own…
