The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada has permanently banned a former rep with BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and fined him $150,000 for contravening the rules of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, now IIROC.
IIROC began investigating Pierre Lalonde’s conduct in June 2009. The violations occurred while he was a registered representative with the Montreal branch of BMO Nesbitt Burns.
On Sept. 14, 2011, Lalonde filed a guilty plea with an IIROC hearing panel. In the filing, he admitted that:
- in May 2007, he appropriated funds from one of his clients for personal ends as part of the professional relationship developed with that client;
- in 2005, he planned financial arrangements for his own personal ends as part of the professional relationship developed with one of his clients;
- from December 2003 to May 2007, he compromised his clients’ trust by fabricating false documents;
- from December 2005 to May 2007, he engaged in professional conduct that was not in his clients’ interest, by accepting instructions from an unauthorized third party; and
- in March 2007, he engaged in inappropriate professional conduct by personally guaranteeing the value of a security.
Following a penalty hearing held on Oct. 31 and Dec. 8, 2011, the hearing panel permanently banned Lalonde from approval as a representative and acting in any registered capacity with an IIROC-regulated firm, and ordered him to pay a $150,000 fine and $10,000 in costs.
Lalonde is no longer a registrant with an IIROC-regulated firm.