A company that was founded by former Perth resident Frank Timis has reportedly been fined a record $1 million in the United Kingdom over a number of misleading stock market announcements.
The Times Online in the UK reported findings from an investigation by the AIM Disciplinary Committee into Regal Petroleum, which found 11 misleading announcements, covering a period when Mr Timis was in charge of the company, had driven the share price up more than 500 per cent.
The announcements ultimately resulted in investors losing hundreds of millions of dollars.
"The number, nature and duration of the breaches demonstrate a systematic pattern of conduct evidencing a reckless disregard for the AIM rules by Regal," Times Online reported the committee as saying.
Regal was founded by Mr Timis, who has been convicted of holding heroin with an intent to supply, in 1996.
The committee investigated announcements Regal made regarding its oil prospect in Greece where a string of positive drilling results had laid the foundation for a successful ₤100 million ($A108 million) raising and the company's share price hitting 510 pence.
However in 2005, Regal announced that the key oil well was non-commercial, resulting in the company's share price to slump 65 per cent, Times Online reported.
"[The episode] caused considerable damage to the integrity and reputation of AIM as a whole," the report said.
The committee fined Regal a record ₤600,000 ($A1 million).
Mr Timis or the company's advisor, Evolution, was not named in the report.
Mr Timis resigned as chairman and chief executive in 2005 but he still retains an 8.8 per cent shareholding.
He has gone on to do deals with the Tony Sage-led Cape Lambert Iron Ore through his company African Minerals.
The deal saw Cape Lambert buy a stake in an African iron ore project for $250 million.
