A hearing panel of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada has fined a Chicoutimi, Quebec broker $25,000 for money laundering.
Following a disciplinary hearing, the panel found Laurier Villeneuve, who, at the relevant time, was a registered rep with the Chicoutimi sub-branch of Assante Capital Management, guilty of the following offences:
- Villeneuve accepted more than $41,000 in cash from a client and $1,000 from another client for the purchase of securities, without informing Assante or obtaining its authorization to accept cash, and wrote cheques on his personal bank accounts totaling $41,000, an amount he deposited in the clients’ Assante accounts, thereby ignoring Assante’s policy statement regarding cash transactions and money laundering.
- Villeneuve, without Assante’s knowledge or authorization, wrote Assante a cheque on his personal bank account and deposited it into the account of a client as compensation for losses sustained in the account,
- Villeneuve provided false information in a statement made to Association staff investigating these events.
The IDA fined Villeneuve $25,000, suspended his registration for 12 months, he is prohibited from acting as a registered rep without successfully completing the Conduct and Practices Handbook Course within six months before returning to the industry.
He must be under strict supervision for a period of six months if he is again approved to act as a registered rep. In addition, Villeneuve must pay $5,000 in costs.
Following the offences noted above,. Villeneuve was dismissed by Assante. He was then employed as a registered representative with the Chicoutimi sub-branch of Valeurs Mobilières iForum inc., until the penalty decision by the IDA Hearing Panel. Currently, he is suspended.
For a complete summary of facts, please see IDA Bulletin 3360.