Quebec’s securities regulator is continuing its crack down on the illegal distribution of securities. On Monday, the Autorité des marchés financiers announced it filed penal proceedings against mutual fund salesman Jean Bissonnette, and is seeking fines of $2,902,000 and a prison term.

The AMF alleges that Bissonnette made illegal distributions on 45 occasions and illegally acted as a securities dealer on 56 occasions. The AMF further alleges that he made misrepresentations on 29 occasions in respect of securities by informing certain investors that their investments were guaranteed or risk-free. Lastly, the AMF charged him with contravening, on six occasions, a cease trade order issued by the Bureau de décision et de révision in October 2009.

The AMF investigation revealed that some 40 investors invested slightly over $1,300,000 with Jean Bissonnette between April 2008 and January 2010. Jean Bissonnette allegedly proposed, under the pretext of confidentiality, investments in “business opportunities.”

The AMF is seeking fines that are five to six times higher than the minimum fine set out in the Act owing to the objective and subjective seriousness of the offences, in particular, the amount of losses and the misappropriation of funds.

In determining the penalties, including a prison term, the AMF also took into account the fact that at the time of the charges, Bissonnette was a registered mutual fund and insurance professional and that he used his network of clients in the sectors in which he was duly registered, thereby betraying their trust.

The regulator’s allegations have not been proven.

Last week, the AMF filed two proceedings regarding the illegal distribution of securities. The regulator is seeking fines of $258,000 and more than $3 million.

IE