BCSC clears short seller Jon Carnes of fraud in Silvercorp case
Peter Koven, 15 May 2015
Short seller Jon Carnes has been cleared of fraud allegations by a British Columbia Securities Commission panel, which found his attacks on Silvercorp Metals Inc. were not prohibited. The panel did, however, raise serious concerns with his conduct.
“While we may find Carnes’ conduct unsavory, we do not find it was clearly abusive to the capital markets,” the panel said in its decision. The panel added that it is “not our role to sanction conduct we find morally unsupportable.” In an interview Thursday evening, Carnes said he was “relieved” by the decision. “That’s always the right word to use in a situation like this,” he said.
He added that he still believes Silvercorp is the party the BCSC should have been targeting, and he thinks the commission should be held “accountable” for its allegations against him. He also disagreed with assertions that there was anything “unsavory” about his actions.
