Shire Investor Meeting

I will be hosting an information meeting for all Shire investors for all Shire projects. Due to tight deadlines, the date has been changed to Monday, July 6th at 6:30pm. Please pass this meeting notice on to all Shire investors you may know:

Shire Investor Group Information Meeting
University of Calgary - Murray Fraser Hall 162
Monday, July 6th @ 6:30pm
Parking: Arts Parkade or lot L1
Meeting Costs: $2.00/person – This is to cover the cost of the meeting space and materials.

A map of the campus can be found here:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/map/index.html

FAQ:

Q – Will the meeting be video taped or available via Skype/teleconference?
A – No, the meeting will not be video taped or available via Skype/teleconference. You are welcome to send someone on your behalf to the meeting.

Q – Will there be meeting minutes taken?
A – Yes, meeting minutes will be taken and information distributed to all investors after the meeting.

Q – What happens to the $2.00 you are collecting per person?
A – The money will be used to cover the costs of the meeting space and materials. Any surplus funds will be deposited to a trust bank account to cover the cost of future meetings and administration for the group.

Q – What if I don’t want to pay the $2.00 fee?
A – You will still be welcome to attend the meeting as the information is valuable to all investors.

Q – Will Cleone Couch be at the meeting?
A – This meeting has not been called by Shire International Real Estate Investment Ltd. and is not an official shareholder or bondholder meeting. This meeting is intended for Shire investors to meet other Shire investors and to share information within an independent investor group. However, this is an open meeting for investors and some Shire representatives may choose to attend.

Q – Will your lawyer be attending the meeting?
A – Yes, Mr. John Blair will be in attendance.

Interest payments "delayed" for Fort McMoney II and Maple & White Sands

Shire sent out these letters to investors in Fort McMoney II and Maple & White sands on June 26, 2009. Investors in both projects were due to receive interest payments from their respective projects on June 30, 2009. According to the letter, there is a temporary delay in payments until restructuring of all current projects by a third-party advisory panel is complete. Who is the 3rd party? Exactly when will the restructuring be complete?

I wonder what happened to the project updates that were forthcoming within the week as mentioned in the letter dated June 15, 2009? Its been 14 days now.... I wonder when Shire will be calling their project specific bondholder meetings mentioned in this letter from June 22, 2009? Lets give some dates, details, and live up to commitments....

I won't hold my breath.

ANNOUNCEMENT!! - Investor Group Meeting For ALL SHIRE SHAREHOLDERS

I am please announce that I will be hosting a general meeting for all shareholders who are members of the investor group and any other shareholders who wish to attend on Thursday, July 2nd at 6:30pm. This is a tentative date as I have just received confirmation from our lawyer that he is able to attend. I will confirm on Monday once I receive confirmation from our venue.

I'll provide details about the venue and agenda on Monday.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Spread the word...

I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone spreading the word about the investor group and my blog. I've reached many investors so far, but I know there are many more out there. Please continue to spread the word about my blog and investor group.

If you are reading my blog and haven't yet contacted me, please do! And if you're on my list already but have not yet provided me with the additional information I asked you for, kindly send it in to me as soon as possible to ensure my investor list is accurate.

NOTE: You are not required to join any legal action to be on the investor list and receive information from me. If you are undertaking efforts of your own or looking to meet others in your project, please contact me and we'll talk about how I can help get your word out.

Keep spreading the word....

Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission Issues Temporary Cease Trade Order

I received a response to my complaint with the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission today.

The Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission (SFSC) issued a Temporary Cease Trade Order on June 23, 2009, against Shire International Real Estate Investment Ltd., Hawaii Fund, Maples and White Sands Investment Ltd., Shire Asset Management Ltd., (Shire), and Jeanette Cleone Couch (Couch). The order expires on July 7, 2009, and may be extended.

Please see the full Government of Saskatchewan news release, dated June 23, 2009, here:
http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=76c6d03f-dbd3-4c99-b824-3fd7999ab8f7

After the Chemainus Meeting

I attended the Chemainus meeting last night. There were well over 100 people in attendance. An executive committee was appointed at the meeting to move their efforts further. I don't really have any new information to report at this time, but am moving forward with legal representation. Please stay tuned for more information.

Of course, joining my investor group will ensure that you receive email updates on important information as it becomes available. You don't have to join any type of legal action to be a member of the investor group.

BTW - I don't send out little notes like this one by email.

Will there be a general shareholders meeting???

I've been asked by several people about getting together a general shareholders meeting. One is in the works! Stay tuned.

The meeting on Monday night is a Chemainus shareholder meeting.

First hate mail

Not surprising, I received a nasty email last night from someone claiming to be an investor but hiding behind an anonymous email. Calling names won't do anyone any good and I won't respond to emails like that. Delete!

ASC Request for Investor Statements

I had a great conversation with ASC Investigator Vi Pickering yesterday. She is asking for our help. If you would like to help, she is looking for statements and documents from investors.

Here is how you can help:
Write a chronological statement of your Shire investment story
Provide copies of all documents especially any copies of documents you signed and copies of cheques and/or bank drafts. If you do not have copies of cheques, you can contact your bank and request copies. Please send Vi copies of both sides of any cheques and drafts.

What to include in your statement?

1. As much as you remember.
2. How did you first hear about Shire?
3. Who did you meet with? What was their position? Did you meet them at Shire’s offices or another location?
4. What was it that led you to making the decision to invest? The marketing materials, the OM, the representative, friends who also invested, something else?
5. When did you pay for the investment – before or after you received your OM?
6. How long did you have to review the OM?
7. Did you sign any documents about risk or any other documents? Were you given copies of those documents?
8. Have you received any Interest payments, dividends, or payouts? When? How much? Give copies of docs if you have them.
9. What kind of updates have you received since investing?
10. What other correspondence or communication have you had since investing?
11. Did you ask for your investment to be redeemed? If yes, what happened?
12. Did you start to question your investment security at any time? If yes, why and what happened?
13. Anything else you can think of.

Where to send this info:
Vi Pickering – ASC Investigator
email: vi.pickering@asc.ca
phone: 403-297-7745

If you are comfortable sending this info to me also, I will forward it to our lawyer Mr. John Blair. You can also send it to Mr. Blair directly at: jblair@blgcanada.com.

Vi Pickering is also available to answer questions you may have regarding this matter. You can reach her by email or phone as above.

Chemainus Shareholder Meeting - June 22 @ 7:30pm

Some of you already have this information but I want to ensure that it gets out to everyone. Chemainus Properties Ltd. will be hosting a shareholders meeting:

Monday, June 22, 7:30 pm
Crowchild Twin Arenas
185 Scenic Acres Dr. NW
2nd floor
(access also available from Nosehill Dr. southbound)

I will do my best to also attend this meeting so that investors get a chance to meet me. Please note that this is not a general Shire International shareholders meeting but a meeting for shareholders in Chemainus Properties Ltd.

If you have questions regarding this group, please contact Tim Walsh at timw@bestalbertabiz.com.

I will continue to support all efforts going forward for all groups and will continue to represent all groups in my efforts. Please continue to pass on my information and encourage investors to contact me.

Bearspaw Land Title

You can view the title to the Bearspaw land here. It appears that there are two mortgages and an action for its foreclosure.

A BLOG!!!

Ok, one investor had the great idea of suggesting that I create a blog. Its something I've thought about over the last few days but have been too busy to create! Thanks to that investor for suggesting it and for spending so much time with suggestions and leg work to help me get my butt going. Its taken a few hours to setup tonight (Its almost 11pm) but its up to date. This should hopefully help save me from re-sending information out to new investors and give each of you a central location for documents etc.

I will still be sending out information and it is imperative that people continue to send me their contact information so that I can compile a complete investor list. Please continue to spread the word and my email address - investor@telus.net.

ASC Interview Transcript

I received this interview transcript last night and sent it out to the investor group today. It gives excellent detail and insight into the situation.

Moving forward with legal action

I''ve reached 48 so far representing atleast 4.4million invested. There are 16 people on my list who haven't yet told me the projects and amount they have invested so technically I've reached more. Hopefully I can get in touch with everyone to determine amounts invested soon!

I sent this letter out to the investor group today:

----------------

Dear Shire Investors,

I have had sufficient interest at this time to move forward with group legal action. Being on my investor list does not require you to join this action. I will continue to provide accurate information to all investors.

For those of you interested in pursuing the legal option, here is where I am at:

1. I have retained counsel of Mr. John Blair of Borden Ladner Gervais. Mr. Blair is recognized as one of the best securities lawyers in Alberta. He has significant experience in this type of case and regular interaction with the ASC. His bio can be found here: http://www.blgcanada.com/home/our-professionals/B/Blair-John

2. It is important that we establish a couple of point people to interact with Mr. Blair who will ask questions on behalf of the group and then disseminate information to the group. This keeps legal costs low by making good use of Mr. Blair’s time answering questions once instead of spending hours answering the same questions to dozens of individuals. I have taken on this responsibility thus far. I would be happy to be one of the point people going forward but am looking for someone else to step forward at this time as I am a new mom on maternity leave.

3. Mr. Blair’s retainer is $7500 at this time. If you are interested in moving forward, I will be asking you to assist in paying a portion of the retainer. To facilitate this, we will have to work out a trust account situation of which the details I am just learning about. I’ll be talking with Mr. Blair a little more about how we set this up as I don’t want anyone to send me money directly. I will also send each investor interested in legal action forms to sign to indicate that you accept Mr. Blair as your representation in this matter and that you accept myself and/or any others as the administrative point person for the group. Again, I would be pleased if someone would like to step forward to assist me.

4. Legal fees will be allocated to investors who move forward with legal action according to the amount invested in relation to the total amount invested by the group. For example, if you invested $75,000 as I have and the group legal action represents $3,000,000 then my contribution to the $7500 retainer would be $187.50. If your investment was $10,000 in this scenario, your fees would be $25 at this time. The more interested parties going forward means lower fees for all.

At this time, I am asking you to indicate:

1. Your interest in moving forward with retaining Mr. Blair as your legal representation
2. Your consent to sharing your contact information and investment information with Mr. Blair
3. The amount invested and in which projects if you have not already shared this information with me. I will be asking you at a later date for documentation.
4. Your support and assistance in moving forward if you would like to volunteer in sharing the load of my efforts.

Moving forward with retaining Mr. Blair as our counsel and filing a group statement of claim is no guarantee that you’ll recoup your investment. This is the first step of many in determining what and if may be recoverable. We may determine that it is worthwhile going forward through the entire process or we may come to a decision to abandon legal action at anytime during the process. It is not a matter of whether investors would win a claim at this time, but rather what capital may be recoverable as a result of a judgment in our favor.

Time is of the essence, so please get back to me as soon as possible. Also, please pass this information on to any other Shire investors that you may know.

CTV News Coverage and ASC Affidavit

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Its been a busy day. I've been getting in touch with quite a few investors already. And then I got in contact with Lea Williams-Doherty from Calgary CTV News. She is doing a piece on Shire today and is looking for investors to interview. Could she come to by house in an hour??? Oh sure, why not. Clean clean clean. :o) I've also had to create a dedicated email address - investor@telus.net - to keep this all separate from my personal email.

Lea Williams-Doherty is amazing. She's very thoughtful and courteous as is her camera man. I think she did a fantastic job covering this story so early on. I hope she will continue to follow the story and do an update in the future. You can read her story, see her coverage, and hear about my story here. She's also posted my email address investor@telus.net to encourage others to contact my investment group.

Shortly after the news team left my home, I received this Alberta Securities Commission Affidavit from Mr. John Blair. Please read it and it will give you a clear understanding of the allegations made by the ASC to support their cease trade order.

Extended Interim Cease Trade Order

Monday, June 15th, 2009

I received this letter from Shire indicating that Shire and the ASC agreed to a new hearing date. I called the Alberta Securities Commission to get the facts regarding the delay.

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

I missed the phone call from the ASC but this is what I was told about the hearing on my voice mail:

The hearing for Shire has been cancelled. A cease trade order has now been put into effect and will remain in effect until such time the allegations are dealt with. And both sides have agreed to wave the hearing regarding this matter and proceed directly to a cease trade order.

First meeting with Mr. John Blair

Monday, June 15

I met with Mr. John Blair today at Borden Ladner Gervais. It sounds like the best course of action is to get in touch with lots of other investors to coordinate a group lawsuit. This is sounding to be a bigger deal that I ever imagined and its best to get in touch with as many investors as possible.

Mr. Blair is going to get some information from the ASC to help determine if there is enough to move forward with legal action.

The ASC hearing is tomorrow. I've continued posting in more locations to try to meet other investors.

Here is the letter I sent out to Shire investors that I've met so far:

Dear Shire Investor,

Today I met with Mr. John Blair, Sr. Partner at Borden Ladner Gervais. At this time, he feels that a group law suit as a torte for misrepresentation is the best course of action rather than individual law suits or a class action suit. (A group law suit represents the individuals that come forward in the suit whereas a class action suit would represent all Shire Investors) He has not asked me for a retainer at this time and is proceeding with further investigation:

We will know more once the ASC hearing goes ahead at 2pm tomorrow. It is likely that a permanent cease trade order will be put in place against Cleone Couch, Shire International, Shire Asset Management Group, and other associated companies.
Mr. Blair has requested the ASC Affidavit for detailed information on the alleged fraud and misrepresentation. He could receive it as early as tomorrow or as late as Friday.
Mr. Blair will be doing further investigation which may or may not include running property searches etc.
Mr. Blair will be reviewing my OM’s for Fort McMoney Properties Ltd. and Halama Gardens Ltd.

Mr. Blair will be in touch with me later this week at which time we will discuss the merits of proceeding. I will update you again after our next discussion.

Further, with regards to the Chemainus group, a lawsuit would provide further ability to take over the Chemainus project. Also, there may not be sufficient funds/potential in the Chemainus project to recoup your investments. A dual course of action could be your best option – take over the project and join the group lawsuit. Again, I am not looking for commitment at this time.

As we are still investigating, I am still collecting names of investors and there is no commitment on your part to join the lawsuit. I am simply trying to get together a list of investors to send out updates and if is determined that there is sufficient grounds to go forward with a lawsuit, I’ll ask for commitments from interested parties at that time only. Unlike the Chemainus group, I will be acting as the point person for this potential group lawsuit and sending out emails with a BCC to the group to maintain confidentiality as I have been asked to do this by many of the people who have contacted me so far.

Please pass my name and contact information along to any other Shire investors that you may know of and encourage them to contact me so that I may add them to my investor list and send them updates as well.

For more information regarding Mr. Blair, please see his bio here:
http://www.blgcanada.com/home/our-professionals/B/Blair-John

Redemption Denied - Money invested in projects and lands...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I received an email from Luree Williamson at Shire today indicating that my investments could not be redeemed. I was not eligible to redeem my investment until the projects were complete and the funds were invested in the projects and lands. The OM for Halama Gardens indicates otherwise. I called the ASC Public Inquiries phone number to find out if the cease trade order prevented Shire from redeeming my investment and was told: If Shire agrees to redeem an investment, they will need to advise the ASC and receive approvals to redeem. However, Shire is not prevented from redeeming my investment. Hmm...

A phone call from the ASC

Monday, June 8, 2009

I received a phone call from the Public Inquiries contact at the ASC today. The two companies I'm invested in are not named in the cease trade only because the projects are now closed and Shire would not be going to the public to raise additional funds for the projects.

That sounds like bad news to me. Waiting to hear back from Shire. I called my Shire representative and left a message asking for an update on my letter. He told me that redemption requests were currently with Shire's lawyer but he didn't think we could receive a redemption because of the cease trade order in effect.

A Cease Trade Order Against Shire??

Friday, June 5, 2009

I received a letter from Cleone Couch at Shire International Real Estate Investments Ltd. today and emailed my Shire representative to request a redemption of my entire investment. He instructed me to send him signed letter requesting the redemption.

The Alberta Securities Commisson interim cease trade order can be found here. The ASC Public Inquiries phone number is 1-877-355-4488.