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by Mike Caswell

Irwin Boock, the Ontario man facing a civil suit in New York for hijacking the identities of 43 public companies, has asked the judge to ignore a videotaped deposition in which he admitted to the charges he faces. In an affirmation filed on Feb. 2, 2011, he says that he made the admissions while under "severe duress." His wife had been in hospital with heart problems, and he had slept very little.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that Mr. Boock and others stole the identities of inactive companies and sold them as shells. The stocks produced from the scheme included a shell that became Paramount Gold and Silver Corp., a Toronto Stock Exchange listing. (The SEC did not accuse Paramount of any wrongdoing.) Mr. Boock initially ignored the case, which resulted in the judge finding him in default. Since then, Mr. Boock has been trying to have the default overturned, and has been attending pretrial matters as directed.

One of those matters was a videotaped deposition, which was conducted by SEC lawyer Justin Chretien. The interview took place in Toronto on Jan. 13, 2011, and Mr. Boock attended alone, without a lawyer. According to a transcript of the deposition, Mr. Boock agreed that he would admit to the allegations as a sign of good faith, and that nobody had promised him anything in return. The transcript includes Mr. Chretien confirming that Mr. Boock was not under duress, and nobody was coercing him.

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