Mr. Mark Dickey reports

ASC SANCTIONS LAWRENCE ZEIBEN, GRIT INTERNATIONAL INC. AND TEXAS PETROLEUM INC. FOR FRAUD AND MISREPRESENTATION

The Alberta Securities Commission has sanctioned Lawrence Zeiben and his companies, Grit International Inc. and Texas Petroleum Inc., for perpetrating a fraud on investors and making misrepresentations to investors. An ASC panel also sanctioned Grit for illegally distributing its shares.

The ASC panel ordered that:

• Mr. Zeiben is permanently banned from trading in or purchasing securities or exchange contracts and from using exemptions under Alberta securities laws (with limited exceptions), and from acting as a director or officer of any issuer, registrant or investment fund manager;
• Mr. Zeiben must pay an administrative penalty of $250,000 and investigation and hearing costs of $50,000;
• Grit and Texas Petroleum are permanently banned from trading in or purchasing securities or exchange contracts and from using exemptions under Alberta securities laws.

In making its ruling, the ASC panel noted, "Not only did [Mr.] Zeiben ignore Alberta securities laws, he demonstrated callous disregard for truth in portraying the companies to the public, and he did so for the purpose of stimulating investor interest, trading volumes and share price." The ASC panel found that, "[Mr.] Zeiben's behaviour overall leads us to the conclusion that, to protect the capital market, he needs to be removed from it permanently."

Copies of the merits decision and sanction decision are available on the ASC website.