Sino-Forest Halted as Regulator Rescinds Order on Executives

Canada’s main securities regulator said it suspended trading in Sino-Forest Corp. because the company may have committed fraud. The Ontario Securities Commission rescinded an earlier order that five executives resign.

Some Sino-Forest officers and directors may have engaged in acts “related to its securities” that they “knew or should have known” perpetuated a fraud, the OSC said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. It also ordered the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Allen Chan and four other executives, a move the OSC later retracted pending a hearing. The stock fell as much as 78 percent in U.S. trading.