The Mutual Fund Dealers Association has fined a former mutual fund salesperson with Dundee Private Investors Inc. for falsifying Know Your Client information and client signatures.

The MFDA announced on Thursday that Christopher Nivet has been fined $5,000 and has been ordered to pay costs of $2,500.

Nivet, who was registered as a mutual fund salesperson from 2001 to 2007, admitted that in October 2007, he falsified the KYC information and client signatures on 11 KYC update forms.

The violation occurred after Nivet was informed by Dundee that he was required to update KYC information for more than 60 clients.

After he submitted the updated forms, his branch manager discovered that Nivet had updated the forms of 11 clients without contacting them. Rather, he repeated the clients’ previously stated KYC information without consulting or verifying with the clients whether any of their information had changed since it had last been collected, and then falsifying their signatures on the updated forms.

The MFDA noted that no trades were executed on the basis of the falsified KYC information, and that Nivet received no monetary or other benefit with respect to the falsifications he made.

Nivet has been prohibited from conducting securities related business in any capacity for a period of three months, and is required to successfully complete an ethics course in order to once again work for an MFDA member firm.

Nivet has resigned from Dundee and is no longer registered in the securities industry in any capacity.

IE