The Ontario Securities Commission announced that a panel of the Capital Markets Tribunal approved a settlement with Claire Drage relating to a fraud involving two companies she owned and controlled, The Lion’s Share Group Inc. and The Windrose Group Inc. The settlement imposes a permanent ban on Drage from becoming or acting as a registrant and from acting as a director or officer of any issuer. Before the companies’ bankruptcy in 2024, Drage and the firms raised money for Ontario real estate developers by issuing and brokering unsecured promissory notes. Despite knowing by 2021 that borrowers faced serious liquidity issues and were overleveraged, they did not disclose these risks and continued soliciting investments using misleading statements; between 2021 and 2024 they raised over 285 million, with nearly 90 million owed to about 450 investors at the time of bankruptcy. The settlement also addresses that the securities were sold without meeting prospectus and registration requirements, depriving investors of related protections.