Indicted stockbroker Mark Valentine has said he is not guilty of committing securities fraud.

Mr. Valentine, 32, was one of some 50 persons indicted last month after a two-year white collar sting operation code named "Bermuda Short" by the FBI and the RCMP.

The Globe and Mail yesterday reported that Mr. Valentine, a Canadian resident and the ousted head of now bankrupt Toronto brokerage Thomson Kernaghan & Co. as well as director of a number of Bermuda companies, said on Monday outside the Federal Court in Fort Lauderdale: "I'm 100 per cent confident of my innocence and look forward to my day in court."

The indictments also named two directors of Bermuda-based Voyager Group, Paul Lemmon and Andrew Proctor.

Mr. Lemmon remains in pre-trial detention in Florida while Andrew Proctor had been released on bail in the Los Angeles area.

Mr. Valentine was arrested last month in Frankfurt, Germany but was only extradited to the US last week. It is not known why Mr. Valentine was in Germany but there had been some speculation that he may have been lured to Germany as part of the FBI's sting operation and in order to facilitate extradition to the US.

And it doesn't look like he will be going home to Canada in the near future, with Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer awarding bail to Mr. Valentine but with certain conditions.

The bail was set at $530,000 in bonds and Mr. Valentine must remain in Florida, wear a security-tracking bracelet and be in his Key Biscayne condo between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to the Globe and Mail.

Mr. Valentine is also being investigated by the Ontario Security Commission's (OSC). In its statement of allegation, the OSC said Mr. Valentine was behind several Bermuda companies - including VC Advantage (Bermuda) Fund Ltd. and the Hammock Group Ltd. which received $1.3 million for a defunct debenture of an inactive company - and also named Mr. Lemmon.

In addition to being chairman and the largest shareholder of Thomson Kernaghan, Mr. Valentine was also president and CEO of VMH Management which managed Canadian Advantage Ltd, with a corresponding offshore account - Advantage (Bermuda) Fund Ltd., a mutual fund company.

Mr. Valentine was also named, in OSC documents, as a registered representative for Hammock Group Ltd., an offshore company based, but not registered, in Bermuda.

Mr. Valentine was also named as a registered representative of other offshore accounts including Ashland Resources, which was said to be in Bermuda.

Mr. Lemmon was named as the trading authority for Ashland Resources, as well as being charged with trading authority for the Hammock Account.

Filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission named Mr. Valentine as the controlling shareholder of Hammock.

Hammock is reportedly registered in BVI but listed 129 Front Street - the Voyager offices - as its address, with one Canadian report citing the firm as doing business from the "aptly named Front Street".

Although the Bermuda Monetary Authority indicated last month that it had not been involved in the FBI probe that resulted in the arrests of Mr. Valentine, Mr. Lemmon or Mr. Proctor, it said it had been "in touch" with the OSC in their investigation, as it had involved Bermuda funds.