A former mutual fund rep that was suspected of having pre-signed client account forms has been fined and banned for failing to participate in a regulatory investigation.

Following a virtual hearing, a disciplinary panel of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) ruled that Nhat Nick Trieu, a former rep with TeamMax Investment Corp., had violated the self-regulatory organization’s rules by failing to cooperate with their investigation.

According to the allegations against him, Trieu didn’t provide information requested by MFDA investigators and failed to turn up to an interview with investigators, after a compliance review in 2019 uncovered over 100 account forms that allegedly “contained identical images of electronic signatures.”

As a result, the panel ordered that Trieu is permanently banned, fined $40,000 and ordered to pay $7,500 in costs.

In July, the MFDA also sanctioned TeamMax for supervisory failures at the firm. On Aug. 12, the firm resigned its membership from the MFDA.