Adjudicated CA TSX

Sino-Forest Corporation: Fictitious Timberland Holdings and Valuation Fraud

Short seller Muddy Waters revealed company did not own the millions of hectares of Chinese forestry assets claimed.

CASE PROFILE & BENCHMARKS

Target Issuer: Sino-Forest Corporation (CA).
Fraud Period: January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2013.
Reported Overstatement: $3.0B.
Total Fines & Penalties: $0.
Maximum Incarceration: No prison sentence.
Independent Auditor: Ernst & Young LLP.
Primary Schemes: reverse merger fraud.
Enforcement Status: ADJUDICATED (contested).

OVERSTATEMENT $3.0B USD reported

TOTAL PENALTIES $0 Civil & disgorgement

PRISON TIME None No prison sentence

FIRST ACTION September 20, 2013 Initial proceeding

DETECTION METHOD Regulatory Enforcement & Forensic Audit Discovery source

PRIMARY REGULATOR Ontario Securities Commission CA

ACCOUNTING MECHANICS FOR THIS CASE

HOW IT WAS DONE

The regulatory record states The company manipulated its accounting records by executing schemes under reverse-merger-fraud. Financial reports filed with market regulators contained material misstatements that distorted true financial condition.

Applicable Scheme Classifications:

reverse merger fraud →

CHARGED RESPONDENTS & OUTCOMES

1 NAMED PARTIES

Respondent	Role	Disposition & Judicial Outcome	Prison	Civil Penalty	O&D Bar
Sino-Forest Corporation	ISSUER	Enforcement order and financial sanctions imposed.	None	$0	No

RED FLAGS OBSERVED PRIOR TO DISCOVERY

EARLY SIGNALS

CASH FLOW TO NET INCOME DIVERGENCE 2011 Operating cash flow severely diverged from reported earnings

ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS & PRIMARY DOCKETS

PRIMARY SOURCE CITATIONS

foreign regulator ENF-2011-sino-forest

Filing Date: September 20, 2013

Enforcement Action: Sino-Forest Corporation: Fictitious Timberland Holdings and Valuation Fraud

Short seller Muddy Waters revealed company did not own the millions of hectares of Chinese forestry assets claimed.

Provisions: Securities & Corporate Law Compliance

Disposition: contested View Primary Record ↗

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

CHRONOLOGY

June 1, 2011 • Misstatement

Material accounting irregularities commenced.

September 20, 2013 • Enforcement

Regulators commenced formal proceedings.

FINANCIAL CRIME REFERENCE SERIES

Cross-Domain Investigation Network

Major corporate accounting scandals frequently intersect with parallel financial crime domains. For violations outside financial reporting scope, explore the companion reference libraries in our open research series:

How Scams Work ↗

Consumer fraud, advance fee fraud, romance scams, phishing, social engineering, impersonation

How Money Laundering Works ↗

Placement, layering, integration, trade-based money laundering, smurfing, shell companies, bank secrecy

How Sanctions Evasion Works ↗

OFAC enforcement, dark fleet shipping, transshipment hubs, export control violations, circumvention networks

How Market Manipulation Works ↗

Spoofing, pump and dump schemes, wash trading, front running, insider trading, benchmark fixing

How Tax Evasion Works ↗

Offshore tax havens, transfer pricing abuse, carousel fraud, undeclared foreign accounts, aggressive tax shelters