HALIFAX — A former stockbroker who pleaded guilty to stock market fraud involving the Knowledge House e-learning company before it collapsed in 2001 has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Bruce Elliott Clarke appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax today with members of his family as Judge Jamie Campbell accepted a joint sentencing recommendation by the Crown and defence.
Clarke was facing six charges, but pleaded guilty late last year to conspiring to affect Knowledge House's share price and defrauding a trust fund established by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America of more than $5,000.
In passing the sentence Campbell said the crimes committed by Clarke were serious and only a significant period of time in jail would be a "fit and proper sentence."
Each charge carried a maximum sentence of 10 years, but defence lawyer Barry Whynot said Clarke, who turned 71 a week ago, was remorseful and co-operated with an investigation that dragged on for years after charges were eventually laid in 2011 following the collapse of the company in 2001.
Campbell called the stock manipulation fraud scheme complex and says it involved millions of dollars, although the exact scale of the loss is "impossible to quantify."
