The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada has accused Toronto-based Barret Capital Management, a firm specialized in futures and options on metals and other exchange-traded commodities, of using client money for its own purposes.
IIROC warned Monday that Barret clients are at risk due to the firm’s “ongoing misappropriation of their money to fund losing trades and ongoing misinformation about the value and holdings in their accounts.”
The allegations have not been proven.
IIROC has set a hearing for Tuesday morning to suspend Barret’s membership in the organization and stop Barret from dealing with the public.
In requesting the expedited hearing, the regulator alleged Barret made “significant misrepresentations to clients including through manipulating account values, misrepresenting account values and holdings by way of false account statements or otherwise providing false information to clients and by manipulating on and off book payments to clients.”
IIROC is a national regulatory organization that oversees investment dealers and trading activity on debt and equity marketplaces in Canada.