A hearing panel of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada has found Ivan Djordjevic, at all material times an approved person at the downtown Toronto office of Desjardins Securities Inc. guilty of forging a client’s signature.

In its decision on merits dated July 20, 2007, the panel found that, on or about Mar. 1, 2004, Djordjevic forged the signature of client AG on an unlimited guarantee for the purposes of having AG guarantee the account of client PW.

AG and PW were both clients of Djordjevic and did not know of each other until November 2005, at which time Djordjevic told AG that he had linked his account with the account of another client, PW. AG had no recollection of ever signing any documents guaranteeing any accounts held by PW, and upon reviewing the Unlimited Continuing Guarantee, advised Desjardins that the signature on the document was in fact not his.

The panel accepted the evidence of the IDA’s expert witness, who testified that the signature on the guarantee was forged and that the “AG” signature on the guarantee could not be attributed to the same person who had signed AG on various other genuine documents.

The panel found that there was clear and convincing proof that the signature of AG on the guarantee was forged. The panel also found that Djordjevic was the person who had forged the signature.

The penalties to be imposed upon Djordjevic will be assessed at a penalty hearing on October 10.

Djordjevic has not been registered with an IDA member firm since November 2005.