According to the OSC’s allegations, Uitvlugt admitted to taking approximately $4.8 million from investors with promises that he’d trade their funds in the forex markets and split the profits. In fact, only about $24,000 was used to trade, and those trades lost $5,000.
Instead, investors’ money was used to finance the scheme and to fund Uitvlugt’s lifestyle, the OSC alleged. “Uitvlugt used investor funds to pay for his personal expenses and to fund his lifestyle including his Lamborghini and Audi vehicles and for Next Level expenses,” it said.
Also, police found that “Next Level was a Ponzi scheme whereby new investor funds were clearly utilized to pay out earlier investors,” the OSC said.
“Next Level offered clients a range of investment services, including expert analysis, strategic planning and risk management despite not having a single employee who possessed the education and registration credentials required in the financial and investment sector,” the OSC noted in its allegations.
The regulator reported that, as a result of the scheme, Uitvlugt was indicted on three counts in 2018, and pled guilty to one. The other two counts were withdrawn.
And in 2019, he was sentenced to five years in prison, minus the time he spent in pre-trial custody. He was also ordered to forfeit the contents of his bank accounts and other assets.
In January, the Alberta Securities Commission permanently banned Uitvlugt from its markets on the basis of his…
