Order: In the Matter of Paul Azeff et al.

Order






IN THE MATTER OF THE SECURITIES ACT,
R.S.O. 1990, c. S.5 AS AMENDED

- AND -

IN THE MATTER OF PAUL AZEFF, KORIN BOBROW,
MITCHELL FINKELSTEIN, HOWARD JEFFREY MILLER AND
MAN KIN CHENG (a.k.a. FRANCIS CHENG)

ORDER
(Rule 6 of the Ontario Securities Commission’s Rules of Procedure (2012), 35 O.S.C.B. 10009)



    WHEREAS on September 22, 2010, the Ontario Securities Commission (the “Commission”) issued a Notice of Hearing, pursuant to ss. 127 and 127.1 of the Securities Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.5 (the “Securities Act”), accompanied by a Statement of Allegations of Staff of the Commission (“Staff”) with respect to the Respondents Howard Jeffrey Miller (“Miller”) and Man Kin Cheng (“Cheng”) for a hearing to commence on October 18, 2010;

    AND WHEREAS the Respondents were served with the Notice of Hearing and Statement of Allegations dated September 22, 2010 on September 22, 2010;

    AND WHEREAS at a hearing on October 18, 2010, counsel for Staff, counsel for the Respondent Cheng, and Miller, appearing on his own behalf, consented to the scheduling of a confidential pre-hearing conference on January 11, 2011 at 3:00 p.m.;

    AND WHEREAS on November 11, 2010, the Commission issued a Notice of Hearing, pursuant to ss. 127 and 127.1 of the Securities Act, accompanied by an Amended Statement of Allegations of Staff which added the Respondents Paul Azeff (“Azeff”), Korin Bobrow (“Bobrow”) and Mitchell Finkelstein (“Finkelstein”), for a hearing to commence on January 11, 2011;

    AND WHEREAS the Respondents were served with the Notice of Hearing and Amended Statement of Allegations dated November 11, 2010 on November 11, 2010;

    AND WHEREAS following a hearing on January 11, 2011, counsel for Staff, counsel for the Respondents Azeff, Bobrow, Finkelstein and Cheng, and Miller, appearing on his own behalf, attended a confidential pre-hearing conference;

    AND WHEREAS at the confidential pre-hearing conference on January 11, 2011, all parties made submissions regarding the disclosure made by Staff and it was ordered by the Commission, on the consent of all parties, that Staff and the Respondents would exchange written proposals concerning outstanding disclosure issues and that a motion date would be set for February 22, 2011 regarding disclosure issues, if necessary;

    AND WHEREAS at the request of the Respondents, and on the consent of Staff, it was agreed that the February 22, 2011 motion date would be adjourned to April 8, 2011;

    AND WHEREAS a disclosure motion was held on April 8, 2011 and, after submissions by the parties, the Panel issued a Confidentiality Order and Adjournment Order dated April 8, 2011, adjourning the Respondents’ disclosure motion and the hearing in this matter to a pre-hearing conference, the date of which was to be agreed to by the parties and provided to the Office of the Secretary;

    AND WHEREAS on April 18, 2011, Staff filed an Amended Amended Statement of Allegations;

    AND WHEREAS the Panel issued an amended Confidentiality Order and Adjournment Order dated April 19, 2011 scheduling, on consent of all parties, a confidential pre-hearing conference on June 2, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.;

    AND WHEREAS all parties consented to an adjournment of the confidential pre-hearing conference from June 2, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. to August 17, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. to allow Staff to provide the Respondents with further disclosure in this matter;

    AND WHEREAS on July 6, 2011, counsel for Finkelstein served Staff with motion materials seeking a stay of the proceeding against him (the “Stay Motion”) and Staff has indicated that: a) it intends to bring a motion that the Stay Motion is premature and should be heard at the hearing on the merits (the “Prematurity Motion”); and b) it intends to bring a motion to seek leave to put before the Panel at the hearing of the Stay Motion certain “without prejudice” communications (the “Privilege Motion”);

    AND WHEREAS counsel for Azeff and Bobrow indicated that they intend to bring a motion to compel records from a third party (the “Third Party Records Motion”);

    AND WHEREAS the Respondents have advised that they may seek to continue the hearing of the previous disclosure motion, which had been held on April 8, 2011 and had been adjourned on April 8, 2011 and June 1, 2011, or may bring other motions relating to disclosure issues (the “Disclosure Motion”);

    AND WHEREAS a pre-hearing conference was held on August 17, 2011 and Staff and the Respondents made submissions regarding the scheduling of the various motions, including the Stay Motion, the Prematurity Motion, the Privilege Motion, the Third Party Records Motion and the Disclosure Motion;

    AND WHEREAS on August 30, 2011, the Commission ordered that the Privilege Motion be heard on September 26, 2011; the Prematurity Motion and the Stay Motion be heard together commencing on November 9, 2011; the Third Party Records Motion be scheduled to be heard on a date after the Prematurity Motion and the Stay Motion have been heard and decided; the Disclosure Motion be adjourned to a date that will be fixed after the four motions have been heard and decided; and dates for the hearing on the merits of the matter be set after the five motions have been heard and decided (the “Scheduling Order”);

    AND WHEREAS the Privilege Motion, the Prematurity Motion and the Stay Motion have been heard and decided in accordance with the Scheduling Order;

    AND WHEREAS Staff requested a pre-hearing conference to request, among other things, that the Scheduling Order be amended to schedule the Third Party Records Motion, the Disclosure Motion and the hearing on the merits;

    AND WHEREAS a pre-hearing conference was held on October 2, 2012 at which time Staff and counsel for the Respondents attended and made submissions;

    AND WHEREAS on October 2, 2012, the Commission ordered that the request for a summons to compel the production of certain records of a third party and any motion to quash such summons proceed in accordance with Rule 4.7, and that a pre-hearing conference be held on January 16, 2013 at which time the Commission would consider scheduling the Disclosure Motion and the hearing on the merits;

    AND WHEREAS a pre-hearing conference was held on January 16, 2013, and Staff and the Respondents made submissions regarding the scheduling of the Third Party Records Motion, the Disclosure Motion and the hearing on the merits;

    AND WHEREAS all parties have the right to bring any other motions should issues subsequently arise;

    AND WHEREAS the Commission is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to make this order;

    IT IS ORDERED THAT:

  1. The Third Party Records Motion to review the issuance of a summons shall be heard on April 8, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.;
  2. The Disclosure Motion shall be heard on July 17, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.; and
  3. The hearing on the merits shall commence on May 5, 2014, and continue up to and including June 20, 2014, save and except for Monday, May 19 (Victoria Day), and the alternate Tuesdays each month when meetings of the Commission are scheduled, the dates of which are unknown at this time.

    DATED at Toronto this 16th day of January, 2013.

 

" Edward P. Kerwin "
Edward P. Kerwin