Andrew DeFrancesco has been banned from serving as a director or officer of any reporting issuer in Ontario.Andy DeFrancesco
Ontario’s Capital Markets Tribunal has permanently banned Bay Street financier Andrew DeFrancesco from serving as a director or officer of any reporting issuer in Ontario.
Mr. DeFrancesco previously agreed to a similar ban in the United States, as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators in relation to an alleged 2018 “pump-and-dump” scheme involving a small Nasdaq-listed tech company called Cool Holdings Inc.
In a “pump-and-dump,” shareholders in a company “pump” its stock price by hyping the company’s prospects, often by making false or misleading statements, then “dump,” or sell, their shares at inflated prices.
In June, 2023, Mr. DeFrancesco agreed to a ban from serving as a director or officer of a company registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and to pay more than US$3-million in fines and returned profits. He settled without admitting to or denying the SEC’s allegations.
The U.S. regulator had alleged that Mr. DeFrancesco and four others, including his ex-wife, had participated in the scheme and that Mr. DeFrancesco sold over US$8-million worth of Cool Holding’s shares.
The Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal, which is an independent division of the Ontario Securities Commission, issued the order on Wednesday after conducting what’s called a hearing in writing, where parties make written submissions instead of oral arguments.
The OSC had asked the tribunal to issue an order against Mr. DeFrancesco, reciprocating the one made by the U.S District Court of the Southern District of New York.
Mr. DeFrancesco did not provide any submissions in response to the OSC’s application, the tribunal said.
In an e-mailed statement, Mr. DeFrancesco said he did not receive a “trading suspension of any kind” from the SEC, nor a penny stock ban or suspension as a portfolio manager.
He said the OSC order “was based on a U.S. SEC decision from two years ago that the OSC is simply implementing two years later. It’s old news.”