A former fund rep, who allegedly borrowed money from various clients over a 20-year period, has been fined and banned by regulators.
A hearing panel of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) ruled that Clive Wilkins, a former rep with PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. in St. Catharines, Ont., is permanently banned from the industry after it found that he violated several of the industry self-regulatory organization’s rules.
Wilkins was also fined $90,000 and ordered to pay $10,000 in costs.
The sanctions follow a hearing into allegations that he borrowed approximately $256,000 from clients between 1997 and 2018.
According to the allegations against him, Wilkins took money from his clients — a number of whom also became reps at PFSL — to pay personal expenses, including unpaid taxes due to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in 2015.
As a result of the CRA’s order, the Ontario Securities Commission placed conditions on Wilkins’ registration, including that he be subject to heightened oversight by his firm.
And yet, despite those conditions, he allegedly continued to borrow from various clients. That undocumented borrowing activity placed Wilkins in conflict of interest with his clients, CIRO said.
According to the allegations, most of the clients were eventually repaid, although not within the agreed deadlines for the loans.
The hearing panel also found that Wilkins made false or misleading statements to his firm and CIRO, and that he failed to co-operate with the organization’s investigation into his conduct.