The former assistant to high-flying trader David Berry is asking the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to undo a settlement he agreed to back in 2007, in light of the fact that Berry himself has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The OSC said Tuesday it will hold a hearing on August 21 to consider an application from Marc McQuillen for a review of a decision that approved a settlement agreement between him and the market regulator at the time, Market Regulation Services Inc. (RS).

McQuillen is now asking that his disciplinary record be expunged, or at least that RS’s successor, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization (IIROC), has the jurisdiction to consider revoking the settlement and clearing his name.

According to the application, McQuillen was Berry’s assistant at Scotia Capital Inc. when Berry was the firm’s head of preferred trading. In late 2005, the pair were accused of breaching certain provisions of the trading rules. McQuillen settled the allegations in 2007, admitting that he engaged in conduct that resulted in the firm violating certain rules, resulting in a $25,000 fine and creating a permanent disciplinary record for him. The application indicates that when McQuillen settled, he was “out of work and lacking the resources to defend a regulatory proceeding.”

Since then however, Berry has been acquitted of the same allegations against him. The application notes that Berry has been cleared of “the very same conduct” that McQuillen admitted to, and that the IIROC hearing panel that heard Berry’s case found that the conduct in question was not a violation of the trading rules, and resulted in no client harm. (See investmentexecutive.com, IIROC panel dismisses charges against Berry, January 16, 2013.)

“In an unusual and perhaps unique turn of events, the IIROC hearing panel determined that Berry’s conduct, and hence McQuillen’s conduct, was not a violation of [the trading rules], such that there is no legal or regulatory basis for the allegations in respect of which McQuillen entered the settlement agreement,” it says.

As a result, he’s now seeking that his disciplinary record be wiped clean as, he says, he “continues to suffer prejudice as a result of the settlement agreement and his permanent disciplinary record.”

“Logic, fairness and the public interest dictate that the settlement agreement be revoked and that McQuillen’s disciplinary record be expunged,” the application says. Yet, it notes that IIROC has no mechanism to do this; and, it reports that IIROC rejected a motion from him earlier this year, citing a lack of jurisdiction to act and inability to reconsider or reverse an earlier decision. So now, he’s turning to the OSC for absolution.