The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has fined a former registered assistant $100,000 for misappropriation of funds.
The hearing decision document states that between January 2010 and August 2011, Jordan Steel took $40,500 from Lily Fey and Chris Morgan, two Vancouver-based investment advisors with Canaccord Genuity Corp. he was working for at the time.
As a registered assistant, Steel received 1.5% of each advisor’s gross commission. While the Canadian commissions were calculated automatically, U.S. commissions were prepared manually by Steel.
According to IIROC documents, when preparing a U.S. commission form from Fey, Steel prepared the document, had it signed by Fey and then altered it to show a higher amount. Generally, on commissions from Fey, Steel overpaid himself between $121 and $1,786 for a total of $13,300.
Morgan’s business did not generate as many U.S. commissions as Fey’s book and so Steel would falsify older commission forms. In this case, Steel wrote false commission amounts of between $750 and $4,665 for a total of $27,200.
In addition to the fine, IIROC has also placed a permanent ban on approval on Steel and ordered him to pay $8,454 in costs.