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By HELEN HUNTLEY
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 2, 2001
Canadian regulators have beaten their Florida counterparts to the punch in cracking down on agents who sold investors shares in an Orlando-based scam.
The Florida Department of Banking and Finance said it plans to pursue agents who sold shares in Evergreen Security Ltd., which raised more than $200-million, a large chunk of it from Florida investors, including some in the Tampa Bay area. So far, however, the only one to be penalized is an insurance agent in Calgary, Canada. The Alberta Securities Commission fined Clayton R. Markle the equivalent of $8,200 for selling $641,000 worth of Evergreen investments in Canada.
Evergreen is in bankruptcy; its main assets are promissory notes from the fund's New Jersey owner, William Zylka. He and two other principals have been indicted in New York on theft charges. Florida officials say a joint state-federal task force is investigating the case.