The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) is accusing a former registered rep of giving misleading and unsuitable advice to an investor.
The BCSC announced today that it has issued a notice of hearing alleging that Roberta McIntosh, who left the securities industry back in 2003, advised an investor to purchase exempt market securities without being registered to do so. The commission says that the investor followed her advice, and bought US$111,190 and $40,000 worth of exempt market securities. The BCSC says that McIntosh received referral fees of $11,732 for the purchases.
The allegations in the case have not been proven. The BCSC will apply to set dates for a hearing into the allegations before a panel of commissioners on January 21, 2014.
In addition to alleging that she provided advice without registration, the commission also alleges that McIntosh misrepresented the exempt market securities as a prudent investment, and failed to disclose to the investor that the offering memoranda described them as “highly speculative” and “a risky investment”.
The BCSC also notes that McIntosh was suspended from the insurance industry for five years in 2012 after recommending unsuitable, high-risk, illiquid securities to clients between 2003 and 2007. (See Investment Executive, B.C. advisor’s insurance licence cancelled for five years, June 12, 2012.)
“Her clients, including widows and retirees, lost their entire principal investments,” the BCSC says.
In a decision released in June 2012, the Insurance Council of BC found in that case that her “actions brought into question her trustworthiness and her ability to carry on the business of insurance in good faith and in accordance with the usual practice”, and it ordered her license suspended for five years.