Creative Cons

Updating the Jurgen and Emilia von Anhalt Case:

Look at their “Macro Diamond.” Do you know how teensey .25 mm is? Meh!

OSC, ‘psychic’ settle diamond case

TORONTO — The “psychic consultant,” Fran Harvie admitted directing Lydia Diamond Explorations of Canada Ltd. to where she felt diamonds might be located at the company’s Ontario exploration site.

The revelation appeared in the settlement agreement endorsed by a panel of the Ontario Securities Commission, under which psychic Fran Harvie was cited for illegally selling Lydia shares and collecting commissions.

She received a reprimand and a five-year ban from trading securities and from acting as a director or officer of a public company.

The settlement says Lydia principal Emilia von Anhalt approached Ms. Harvie as a client in her psychic consulting business.

After Ms. Harvie told Ms. von Anhalt that she would be mining diamonds, Ms. von Anhalt returned with maps and “Harvie ‘dowsed’ the maps with her hands and showed her where she felt the diamonds were located,” the settlement agreement said.

Later, Ms. Harvie was invited to the exploration property, where she used dowsing rods, and “the physical locations lined up with the locations on the maps,” the agreement says.

The two women became friends, the settlement says, and Ms. Harvie told acquaintances of hers about the mining company.

Between 1999 and 2001, Ms. Harvie sold Lydia shares to several hundred people — although the stock was issued in her name — and she earned about $95,000 in commissions for bringing the investors to the company.

Ms. von Anhalt and her husband, Jurgen von Anhalt, also were charged and convictedby the OSC with breaking securities laws in the distribution of Lydia shares.

The von Anhalts’ lawyer, Joseph Groia, originally said that Ms. Harvie’s role in the case against his clients is obscuring the fact that Lydia is a legitimate diamond exploration firm.

Mr. Groia said he would introduce evidence at the OSC hearing that will show “this is a very real . . . exploration property. It has absolutely nothing to do with psychics, and it has everything to do with very credible experts who will say that this property shows a lot of potential and promise.”

He accused OSC staff of using the titillating information about Ms. Harvie’s role “to sell newspapers.”

In addition, he said, the emphasis on Ms. Harvie “creates a serious risk that the company will be damaged for no good reason.”

In an interview after the original OSC allegations, the von Anhalts denied seeking psychic guidance in their search for diamonds, and said Mr. Harvie never worked for the company.

Mr. Groia said that “if the suggestion is that this company has been using psychics to find promising [geological formations], that’s nonsense. Absolute nonsense.”

The company used “credible geological people and people with solid backgrounds.”

OSC vice-chairman Howard Wetston, who led the panel hearing the settlement proposal, acknowledged that Ms. Harvie’s illegal actions in selling those shares were not deliberate, she was not aware she was breaking the law and she was not actively selling shares but rather making introductions to Lydia.

Ms. Harvie would not make any comment after the hearing concluded. OSC spokesman Frank Switzer said the sanctions would send a message that the commission is very concerned about the distribution of securities by people who are not registered to do so.

Wanna buy a whale? heY!