"Harry Houdini would have loved the Vancouver Stock Exchange." -- Adrian du Plessis

From 1980 onwards, du Plessis was a critic of the Vancouver Stock Exchange whose collaboration with artist Carel Moiseiwitsch, Sideshow: The Howe Street Carnival (self-published / Petarade Press), alleged much of the VSE activity was fraudulent. A previous collaboration between Moiseiwitsch and du Plessis about Howe Street ethics or lack thereof, The Enemy Within, was named the year's Best Business Article at the Western Magazine Awards. He was a former VSE floor trader who remained in Vancouver into the 1990s. He publicly claimed death threats had been made against him and contacted Vancouver Chief of Police Bob Stewart about the matter. While starting an independent publication called Imprint, du Plessis claimed Chief Stewart was stonewalling his citizen's complaint process. In 1990 he wrote a series of letters to Howe Street high roller Peter Brown concerning threats made on his answering machine. In addition, du Plessis kept tapes of his conversations with the Vancouver Police Department. The mainstream media wouldn't delve into his situation. He left town. David Cruise and Alison Griffiths wrote a critical VSE study, Fleecing the Lamb, in 1987; and Michael Caldwell produced a flattering study, The Wizards: Millionaire Magicians of the Vancouver Stock Market. There has also been a critical biography of Murray Pezim, published from Toronto and a VSE-related novel by Nev Munro. [See Nev Munro]

[BCBW 1995] "Business" "Advice"