Sooke Harbour House: Sooke man defrauded investor of $1 million, says B.C. Securities Commission

A Sooke man defrauded a Chinese investor of $1 million by lying about the ownership of Sooke Harbour House hotel, the B.C. Securities Commission has ruled.

A three-person panel concluded Timothy Craig Durkin had bilked an overseas investor who agreed to invest $2 million in Durkin’s company SHH Holdings Ltd. believing she was buying an ownership share in the landmark property.

Durkin had told the investor that SHH Holdings, through a subsidiary, owned all the shares of the hotel and that buying 40 per cent of its shares meant the investor would obtain a 40 per cent ownership interest in the hotel. The investor advanced $1 million of the purchase price in 2015 and 2016.

But SHH Holdings did not own any of the shares in the corporation that owned the hotel, the panel said. The money has since been spent and never recovered by the investor.

In its decision published Tuesday, the panel concluded Durkin made false statements about the hotel’s ownership in at least three occasions.