One B.C. company executive has resigned and another slapped with a long-term trading ban in separate settlements with the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC).

Steven Allan Wylie de Jaray, the chief executive of a B.C. electronics-manufacturing firm, has been banned from securities markets for nine years for violating securities laws.

As part of his settlement with the BCSC, de Jaray must also pay a $100,000 fine, which includes $35,000 for costs of the investigation.

Under the ban, de Jaray, a former director and officer of AimGlobal Technologies Co. Inc., can not be a director or officer of any public company. He can not engage in investor relations and may only trade securities in restricted circumstances.

Between June 1999 and October 2002, de Jaray was an insider and a control person of AimGlobal, at one time listed on the Toronto and American stock exchanges.

During this period, he failed to file notices and insider reports for his trading in AimGlobal shares. Because of this, he was responsible for four misleading filings by AimGlobal.

The BCSC said he also acted contrary to the public interest when he failed to put in place adequate and properly documented compensation controls for AimGlobal.

Meanwhile, Neil Russel Swift, the president and a director of Priority Ventures Ltd., a B.C.-based oil and gas exploration company, must resign after admitting to numerous securities law violations, including making false and misleading statements to investors.

Under his settlement, Swift can not be a director or officer of any issuer for at least three years and may only trade securities in restricted circumstances. He must pay $10,000 to the BCSC to cover the latter’s investigation costs.

Swift, who was responsible for Priority’s public disclosure, violated securities law when the company sold securities in late 2001 using an offering document that was false and misleading; issued a technical report in late 2002 on its coal resources that was not prepared by an independent person; issued shares without proper resale restrictions; and issued false and misleading news releases about its gas and coal resources.

Swift also failed to file insider reports for 149 transactions.

Trading in Priority’s stock on the TSXV has been halted since late 2002.

The BCSC is the provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province.

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