Trading in shares in Sino-Forest, a China-based timber company, has been halted for 15 days by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), which alleged that senior company officials “appear” to have misrepresented its revenues and to have exaggerated its timber holdings. Shares in Sino-Forest have lost nearly three-quarters of their value since June after reports by Muddy Waters, an investor-owned research firm, that alleged the company was a fraud. The Canadian regulator said the company had raised CAD2.9 billion in stock and bond offerings since 2004 and 2009 and had more than 150 subsidiaries registered in the British Virgin Islands and China. Allen Chan, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive, resigned on August 28. Chan, who co-founded Sino-Forest in 1992, will be replaced as Chairman by William Ardell and as Chief Executive by Executive Director Judson Martin.