The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has refused registration to an aspiring mutual fund rep who admitted to two prior criminal convictions, but falsely reported the sentence she received in the case.
Following a hearing, Debra Foubert, director, compliance and registrant regulation branch, OSC, denied registration as a mutual fund dealing rep to Maria Psihopedas.
Foubert found that although Psihopedas properly disclosed a couple of criminal charges from 1996 on her registration application, she falsely reported that she was sentenced to community service when she was actually ordered to serve time in jail.
“Through background checks, it was discovered that, while the applicant had accurately reported the guilty plea, the disposition was falsely reported,” Foubert states in her decision.
“Instead of two months of community service, as provided in the application, Psihopedas was sentenced to 80 days of imprisonment, to be served intermittently on each charge concurrently, and to three years of probation.”
OSC staff recommended that Psihopedas be denied registration “based on the untruthful statements” about her past criminal record.
At the hearing, Psihopedas argued that, “the criminal conviction was over 22 years ago and that she did not know she was working for a fraudulent company. She also believed that she did not have adequate representation from a legal aid lawyer and that she was led to believe she would have been better off to plead guilty.”
She also told OSC staff that she did not remember serving the jail time.
“I do not find it credible for Psihopedas to say that she does not remember serving 80 days in jail on an intermittent basis,” Foubert states.
The decision also notes that Psihopedas was reminded of her sentence in the case in 2015 when her application for a life license was rejected by the Financial Service Commission of Ontario (FSCO), which also discovered the criminal convictions during a background check.
“Having concluded above that Psihopedas lacks integrity, which is an integral element of suitability for registration, I cannot approve the registration of the applicant. Therefore, Psihopedas’ registration as a mutual fund dealing representative is refused,” Foubert states.