The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada has reached an agreement with former registered representative Gurpreet Singh Pawar for his misappropriation of $95,000 from four individuals.
According to the settlement documents, between Dec. 2009 and Feb. 2010, Pawar, while working in a call centre as a registered rep for a Vancouver-branch of Credential Securities Inc., gathered $95,000 from four friends, none of which were clients of Credential, supposedly for a new investment opportunity. Instead, Pawar placed the funds in a personal account with the intent to invest the money himself and use the proceeds to pay down a large personal debt and to return the borrowed money to his friends.
To make the transaction convincing, Pawar sent the front page of a legitimate prospectus to one friend pretending it belonged to the fictitious security, while sending a computer screen shot of a bond order as a confirmation of the trade to another person.
The settlement agreement with Pawar includes a permanent ban from re-applying for registration with IIROC in any capacity and an $80,000 fine to the self-regulatory organization. As well, Pawar agreed to pay $5,000 in costs.
An investigation into Pawar’s conduct was launched in November 2010. He is no longer registered with any IIROC-regulated firm.