The New Brunswick Securities Commission reports that it has approved a settlement agreement with an advisor for misleading the commission and trading without registration.

The settlement directs the advisor, Alain Brien, to pay an administrative penalty of $10,000 for presenting misleading or untrue information to the commission and for trading in securities in New Brunswick without having been registered. The commission also ordered that the exemptions contained in the New Brunswick securities laws do not apply to Brien, and he is prevented from trading in securities in New Brunswick for 10 years.

The settlement agreement was approved by the commission at a hearing held on April 25. The proceeds of the penalty will be placed in a fund to be used for education and other capital market initiatives.

The NBSC notes an investigation determined that Brien traded on behalf of 16 New Brunswick residents between November 2003 and March 2005. None of these 16 investors have reported financial suffering while working with the respondent, however, the commission says that he misled investigators about his business dealings in New Brunswick.

Brien worked for Investors Group Financial Services Inc. in Québec at the time of the infraction. IG was ordered to pay an administrative penalty in February for trading in securities and permitting its sales staff to trade in securities without being registered, as required by the Securities Act.