Ontario Says Lender Misappropriated Funds, CEO Took Payments (1)

Canada’s top capital markets regulator is investigating officers and shareholders of Bridging Finance Inc., one of the country’s largest private lenders, on allegations they misappropriated investor funds.

An Ontario court appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to take control of Bridging at the request of the Ontario Securities Commission, pending the outcome of the investigation. The move was made public Saturday.

Bridging, based in Toronto, was run by a husband-and-wife team, David Sharpe and Natasha Sharpe. The firm, which had about C$2 billion ($1.6 billion) in assets under management as of December, lends to small and mid-sized companies involved in everything ...