One by one, the pins have been knocked out from under West Vancouver businessman Fred Sharp. He was ordered to pay the equivalent of more than $70 million to the U.S. government and $2 million to Quebec’s securities regulator for his role in schemes to manipulate share prices. He’s banned from stock markets in Canada. His bank and brokerage accounts were frozen and ordered to be seized. Known as the Canadian mastermind in the Panama Papers, Sharp has lost case after case in court.
But Sharp still has his freedom: Despite a push within the Canada Revenue Agency years ago to criminally investigate him, he’s never been charged in Canada. And while the U.S. Justice Department indicted him two years ago for securities fraud and conspiracy, there is no public evidence of an effort to extradite him.
