A hearing panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada has fined a former registered representative with Octagon Capital Corp. $125,000 for recommending unsuitable transactions for a client and making unauthorized purchases in that client’s accounts.
In its decision and reasons dated Dec. 16, 2011, the panel found that from February 2004 to December 2007, Randall William Harding failed to use due diligence to ensure that recommendations were suitable for a client, and made unauthorized transactions in that account.
The panel fined Harding $125,000, and ordered him to disgorge $17,861 of commissions, and pay $25,000 in costs. The panel also suspend him from registration approval for five years.
IIROC formally initiated the investigation into Harding’s conduct in February 2009.
The violations occurred when he was a registered rep at the Toronto branch of Octagon Capital Corp. Harding is no longer a registrant with an IIROC-regulated firm.