A former rep has been fined and banned from the industry after admitting to misappropriating money from three elderly, or deceased clients.
Following a hearing, a panel of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) permanently banned Omer Naek, a former rep with TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. in Montreal, from the industry, and ordered him to pay a fine of $100,000, disgorgement of $59,151 and costs $5,000.
The sanctions were imposed after the panel approved a joint recommendation on sanctions made by Naek and CIRO enforcement staff, and an admission that he breached CIRO rules by making unauthorized transfers and misappropriating money from three of his former clients.
According to a translation of the panel’s decision, which was issued in French, Naek misappropriated approximately $204,000 and US$15,000 between May 2020 and August 2021, by opening unauthorized bank accounts in the names of clients — including a client that had recently died — making transfers into the fake accounts, and then making payments from those accounts for debts he owed, including payments to a contractor that he was buying a home from.
As part of the settlement, an allegation that Naek failed to cooperate with the SRO’s investigation was dropped.