NSSC Blog: Before You Invest

Question of the week: What questions do I need to ask my new adviser?

When you’re choosing your investment adviser it should not be as simple as picking the first name that comes up in a Google search. You shouldn’t necessarily go with the first adviser you meet with either. We’re not saying that first adviser won’t be the right one, but don’t automatically go with the first one without doing your due diligence.

Fraudster Friday: Earl Jones

Bertram Earl Jones ran a Ponzi scheme for decades in Quebec that cost his victims, including members of his own family, a reported $51.3 million Canadian.

In 1979 Jones began his own investment advising business. At the time he did not register with any securities regulator and he never would. Jones would go about offering investment advice and claim to sell securities unregistered for 30 years.

Fraudster Friday: Bre-X Ltd. Gold Fraud

The Bre-X Minerals Ltd. scandal has all the trappings of a Hollywood story. A fledging minerals company residing in the penny stocks reportedly strikes the largest gold claim in history tucked away in the jungles of Borneo. The gold claim was worth billions and sent Bre’X’s stock value soaring from pennies to hundreds of dollars. In the end it all turned to be fool’s gold, resulting in one the largest stocks scams and cases of mining fraud in Canadian history.

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