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by Mike Caswell

A New York judge has approved a $25-million settlement between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Caledonian Bank Ltd., a Canadian-linked offshore firm that the regulator accused of facilitating multiple pump-and-dumps. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) The judge approved the deal despite objections from the secretive owners of Caledonian, who protested that the SEC had destroyed their business. They said that an asset freeze the regulator obtained precipitated the firm's collapse, but the judge has found that the owners had no right to intervene in the settlement (which the SEC negotiated with Caledonian's receiver).

The fine comes as part of a case in which the SEC says that Caledonian was one of a group of offshore brokerages that sold $75-million worth of shares in four companies during questionable promotions in 2013. The selling occurred as aggressive campaigns were under way to tout the companies as active oil and gas or mining issuers. Of the companies, three had links to Surrey, B.C., and the other had a Montreal man as its president.

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