A former mutual fund rep who admitted to misappropriating money from clients has been fined and permanently banned by a regulatory hearing panel.
Following a hearing on sanctions, a disciplinary panel of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) banned Christina (Lorna) Cole — a former rep with BMO Investments Inc. in Squamish, B.C. — for misappropriating approximately $24,800 from several clients, including a couple of recently deceased clients.
In an agreed statement of facts, Cole admitted that, between October and December 2023, she misappropriated money from the accounts of a client that was moving overseas, and from two clients that had recently died.
The bank discovered the misconduct following an investigation that was launched after it found that she purchased a bank draft from a former client’s bank account and deposited the proceeds into her own account at the bank.
Following that discovery, in January 2024, Cole was terminated by BMO Investments.
Ultimately, the clients’ accounts were repaid, with interest, by both the bank and the fund dealer in March 2024 — and, in October of that year, the bank recovered $23,000 from Cole’s account at a credit union.
According to the hearing panel’s decision, that recovery wasn’t initiated on a voluntary basis — instead, Cole “acquiesced to transfer the funds to [BMO] from her Vancity account after being advised of the request by Vancity, and upon the recommendation of her lawyer,” it said.
In addition to the industry ban, the CIRO panel also fined Cole $50,000, and ordered her to pay $1,800 in disgorgement and $7,500 in costs.