A former RCMP officer is facing two years' probation and $147,000 in restitution related to a failed cannabis production operation in Mission.
Jasvindar Singh Basi was issued a suspended sentence and 50 hours of community service by the court, according to a sentencing ruling posted online earlier this month. He was also ordered to pay roughly $75,000 each in restitution to a pair of investors.
After retiring from the RCMP, Basi was the president of GrowX Global Corporation 鈥 a business intended to lawfully produce and sell cannabis at a production facility on a property in Mission.
According to the sentencing document, Basi promoted the investment to his neighbour and his friend in September 2019, who each invested $75,000 in GrowX. The business failed, and both lost their investments.
The court noted that Basi was required to file a prospectus or preliminary prospectus with the British Columbia Securities Commission concerning the investments, but failed to do so.
鈥淚n promoting the investment, Mr. Basi recklessly assured [his neighbour] that it would be safe, profitable, and secured against the Mission property. However, he failed to disclose that GrowX was in significant financial distress. Specifically, he did not inform [his neighbour] that GrowX lacked funds to pay contractors, was facing multiple lawsuits for outstanding debts, and that the Mission property was already mortgaged for approximately $2.4 million to a creditor with first priority,鈥 the judgment reads.
According to victim statements, the experience had a significant financial, emotional, and psychological impact on the neighbour, who trusted Basi because he was his neighbour and a former RCMP officer.
Defence counsel conceded that Basi was 鈥渢oo optimistic鈥 and 鈥渘ot objective or clinical enough鈥 in his assessment of GrowX鈥檚 business plan.
鈥淎s a result, the business failed, and Mr. Basi lost not only the investments made 鈥 but also his own life savings. On the evidence before me, it is clear that Mr. Basi did not personally profit from the funds invested 鈥 and is not living off the fruits of his malfeasance,鈥 the judgment reads.
The judge said there was "no evidence that the offences were organized, planned, or premeditated" and that the conduct from Basi was "isolated and out of character."
"Basi鈥檚 conduct was not motivated by malevolence, greed, or an intention to deceive or defraud. He did not sell [the investors] a sham product or fictitious investment. GrowX was a legitimate incorporated company intended to engage in lawful business. Mr. Basi genuinely believed the business would succeed and invested his own life savings into it," the judgment reads.
However, the judge said that the 59-year-old Basi ought to have known as a retired police officer the importance of complying with the regulatory framework and "appreciated the inherent risks of making reckless and inaccurate statements."