OSC v. Matthew John Hamilton (undisclosed control blocks, 2020)

Judgment entered

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In March 2020 the Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal reciprocated a British Columbia order against Matthew Hamilton, who created shell Guru Health Inc. while hiding his involvement and giving a false impression of its ownership. It barred him from acting as a director, officer, registrant or promoter and from trading until April 3, 2026.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Ontario Securities Commission began this matter with a notice of hearing on January 31, 2020 (file 2020-2), and a Capital Markets Tribunal commissioner issued reasons and an order on March 27, 2020, after Hamilton made no submissions.

Staff relied on the inter-jurisdictional provisions to reciprocate a British Columbia Securities Commission order. The BCSC found in October 2018 that in 2010 Hamilton incorporated Guru Health through a Nevada agent while concealing his involvement, installed nominee directors and officers while acting as undisclosed de facto director and officer, and kept undisclosed control of shares that 27 purported Alberta shareholders never paid for, using his own money to create the appearance of payment. He gave that appearance to a sponsoring firm to obtain a ticker symbol and sold the company in 2012 for US$190,000.

The tribunal ordered him to resign any director or officer positions, ceased trading and acquiring securities until April 3, 2026 (with a narrow exception for personal registered accounts), removed exemptions, and prohibited him from acting as director, officer, registrant or promoter until that date. No monetary sanction was imposed in Ontario. The record had shown the matter as dismissed, which is wrong, and futures as an asset class, which the matter does not involve.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Undisclosed control blocks — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2020-01-30 Statement of Allegations
2. 2020-01-31 Notice of Hearing
3. 2020-03-27 Reasons and Decision
4. 2020-03-27 Reasons and Decision

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• Tribunal proceeding
• Statement of Allegations
• Notice of Hearing
• Reasons and Decision
• Reasons and Decision

The linked release is published by the issuing regulator under its own terms. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.