A former registered education savings plan (RESP) dealer rep and two former branch managers have been hit with a series of criminal and quasi-criminal charges in connection with the alleged theft of new mothers’ private information by hospital personnel, who then sold the information to the dealers so they could market RESP products to the parents.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced that it has laid a total of eight criminal charges against Nellie Acar, a former sales rep with Global RESP Corp., and six charges against former nurse Esther Cruz. The regulator alleges that Acar purchased stolen maternity patient labels from Cruz, who worked in the maternity wards of two hospitals, over two-and-a-half-year period.
The OSC alleges that Acar used this confidential patient information as a source of potential sales leads. Furthermore, the OSC says that Acar allegedly submitted false RESP enrollment applications through Global on at least two occasions. None of the allegations have been proven.
Acar faces two counts of secret commissions, two counts of forgery, two counts of uttering a forged document and two counts of possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000. Cruz was also charged with two counts of secret commissions, two counts of breach of trust by a public officer and two counts of theft under $5,000. Their first court appearance in the case is slated for July 17 in Toronto.
Separately, the OSC also alleges that Poly Edry, a former branch manager with another RESP dealer, Knowledge First Financial Inc. (KFFI), purchased confidential maternity information over a five-year period from a former clerk at the Rouge Valley Hospital, Shaida Bandali.
In addition, the OSC alleges that Subramaniam Sulur, a former assistant branch manager with C.S.T. Consultants Inc., also purchased confidential information from Bandali over a two-year period.
The OSC alleges that Edry and Sulur then provided this information to sales reps at their respective firms as potential leads. These allegations have not been proven either.
Edry and Sulur have each been charged with allegedly breaching the Securities Act, namely: one count of failing to act fairly, honestly and in good faith with clients; and one count of participating in an unlawful referral arrangement.
In addition, Gavriel Edry, Poly Edry’s husband, has been charged with one count of unregistered trading for allegedly helping his wife collect and distribute the information to sales reps. Their first court appearance is scheduled for July 16 in Toronto. Bandali was charged with unregistered trading in in November 2014.
The charges follow an investigation by the OSC’s Joint Serious Offences Team, which is an enforcement partnership between the OSC, the RCMP’s Financial Crime program and the OPP’s Anti-Rackets branch.