Financial Pacific directors must pay hefty fines

FORMER directors of scandal plagued Financial  Pacific brokerage, who have dropped out of sight in recent months,   have lost their case  against fines imposed on them by the Superintendency of Securities.

West Valdés,  must pay a fine of $ 500,000 after The Third Chamber of the Supreme Court threw out lawsuit calling for the annulment of the fines imposed on him,  Ivan Clare, and Oscar Rodriguez.

The SMV, in a resolution of December 3, 2014, fined Valdés $500,000, Clare $300,000 and  Rodriguez $300,000.

The sanctions were approved on January 15, 2015 followed by the launching of the action by Valdés and Clare..

The FP brokerage  underwent a forced liquidation for an estimated $12 million as a result of financial mismanagement and embezzlement.

In a Dec. 16 ruling, Judge Nelly Cedeno settled the suit and Clare, and stated that it is not illegal  to apply fines against  ex-directors

The judge said that the FP ex-directors breached the rules governing the stock market to omit from the financial statements of September 30 and November 13, 2012 a shortfall of $ 12 million.

“It is clear that Valdes and Clare failedto ensure strict compliance with laws or rules,” said the ruling.

Cedeno said there was also  falsehood by stating that they temporarily hired the services of the auditing firm Moore Stephens.

FP is in the hands of the liquidator Jose Angel Hidrogo, after the forced liquidation was ordered.

Prior to this, the brokerage was the subject of two administrative interventions by the SMV in 2012 and 2014, for administrative irregularities.

The former employee of FP Mayte Pellegrini and 13 others face criminal prosecution for financial crimes. The case is pending a preliminary hearing  before the Second Criminal Court.