The Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada says a hearing panel has established that Nhat Trieu failed to cooperate with an investigation into his conduct. The regulator then levied a fine in the amount of $40,000 and ordered costs in the amount of $7,500. The MFDA has also permanently banned Trieu from conducting securities related business in any capacity with any MFDA member firm going forward.
Registered in the securities industry from July 2015 until November 2019 when he resigned, the Markham, Ontario representative had been registered in both Ontario and British Columbia as a dealing representative with TeamMax Investment Corp.
The MFDA says between September and November 2019, as part of a compliance review, MFDA staff found multiple account forms maintained in files for various clients that appeared to contain identical images of electronic signatures placed on forms. The MFDA says this raised concerns that Trieu could be directly applying the electronic images without client knowledge or authorization. The investigation uncovered 103 account forms for 15 different clients containing identical signatures.
After the MFDA sent a letter to Trieu informing him that MFDA staff had found the account forms, Trieu resigned from his position, did not provide any response to the firm’s attempts to contact him and did not provide an explanation. He then failed to respond to MFDA phone calls, emailed staff without providing the requested information, then emailed staff again, requesting an extension that was granted, but again did not provide the requested information. He also failed to attend an interview with the regulator’s investigators.
“Due to the respondent’s failure to cooperate with staff’s investigation, staff has not been able to determine the full nature and extent of the respondent’s conduct under investigation,” they write.
The MFDA adds that it will issue its written reasons for the decision in due course.
