Advisor banned by two regulators

The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has announced that it has permanently banned Dean Martin Jenkins from registration with any IIROC firm and ordered the advisor to disgorge $55,450 he earned selling off-book syndicated mortgage investments. The move follows an earlier decision by the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) to also ban Jenkins for similar infractions.

According to IIROC’s penalty decision in the case, between November 2013 and February 2016, Jenkins facilitated $980,000 off-book syndicated mortgage investments for 11 clients and seven other investors without his firm’s knowledge or approval. He then registered with the MFDA in February 2016 and continued to sell an another $1,079,350 of the same syndicated mortgage off-book investments to an additional 11 clients and five other investors.

IIROC postponed delivering its decision until the MFDA’s disciplinary proceedings were complete in the case. In January 2021 the MFDA permanently banned Jenkins from registering with any MFDA member firm and fined him $30,000 plus costs of $2,500. In settling with the MFDA, Jenkins also admitted that he possessed and in some instances used 70 pre-signed forms for 45 different clients.

In the IIROC case, the regulator also banned Jenkins, ordered him to disgorge the $55,450 in net compensation he earned for his role in the sale of the syndicated mortgage investments while he was employed as an IIROC registered representative, and ordered him to pay costs of $2,500.

“While this type of misconduct would ordinarily warrant a significant fine, we decided not to impose a fine as we were satisfied there was sufficient evidence the respondent would be unable to pay a fine in addition to disgorgement,” IIROC writes in its decision. “While we acknowledge the respondent’s long standing precarious financial situation, we are more concerned about the financial devastation his clients are suffering because of his misconduct,” they add. “At least one investor invested 95 per cent of her portfolio in these syndicated mortgages. The total losses are unknown, but investors lost at least 80 per cent of their investment. In the face of these losses which were the direct result of the respondent’s actions, we cannot allow him to keep the benefits of his misconduct, regardless of his financial circumstances.”