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The B.C. Securities Commission has taken preliminary steps to seize the property and goods of financial fraudsters who owe nearly $70 million in unpaid penalties from the past decade.

At least 10 collection orders — called writs of seizure and sale — were filed in B.C. Supreme Court immediately after a Postmedia investigation published in mid-November 2017 reported that the Securities Commission had collected less than two per cent of $510 million in penalties in the past decade.

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The Commission appears to have taken other preliminary steps after publication of the investigation to enforce payment from fraudsters owing another nearly $40 million in penalties.

Those filings in B.C. Supreme Court include renewing three enforcement orders to extend a 10-year deadline to collect payment and registering a case in an effort to sue in another jurisdiction.

A writ of seizure and sale must be filed in court, followed by a request for a privately owned but government-authorized court bailiffs’ company to seize property and items such as cars, boats and jewelry to pay penalties. The items are sold at auction or through a tender process to produce cash.