The Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada has permanently banned Adeleke Rasaq Olanrewaju, a former CIBC Securities Inc. dealing representative in the Vancouver, British Columbia area, after a hearing panel found that he misappropriated funds received from a client and made false or misleading statements to CIBC during its investigation into his conduct.
While working with CIBC, Olanrewaju approached a foreign student attending the University of British Columbia while the two were at church, and offered to assist the client with his investments, promising a return of approximately three per cent or $600 per month. In August 2018, the client obtained a bank draft in the amount of $30,000, made payable to CIBC and the former advisor. No documents were executed in relation to the investment.
August 14, Olanrewaju deposited the bank draft into his own, overdrawn, personal bank account. (Later he would tell CIBC that the draft was made out only to him.) Within days, the money was used to pay personal expenses. By October, he emptied the account, having made only two payments to the client. The MFDA concluded that the balance repaid to the client at that time – worth only $2,709.94 – was done so for the sole purpose of misleading the client into believing that he was receiving returns on his investment as promised.
Once CIBC began its investigation, Olanrewaju also repaid $19,110 – three days after the client complained. Once the representative was terminated, CIBC repaid the client the outstanding $8,180.05. The panel concluded, based on the evidence, that the respondent repaid the amount “not out of a sense of duty or remorse, but rather in a futile attempt to avoid termination by the member,” the MFDA writes in its reasons for decision.
During CIBC’s investigation into his conduct, the former representative asserted that he first did not receive any money from the client, that the bank draft was made payable only to him, that he gave the bank draft to his own advisor to deposit, and that the money he received had been sent to Nigeria. “Contrary to what the respondent stated,” the MFDA writes, “he did receive the bank draft from the client. Furthermore, it was made payable not only to him, as he stated in the interview, but to CIBC as well. He also deposited the full amount into his personal account and did not give it to his financial advisor as he had stated. Finally, some or all of the monies were used for personal matters and not sent to Nigeria as he had also stated on another occasion in the interview. Misleading a member by an approved person is serious misconduct.”
Although it is possible Olanrewaju has left Canada, the MFDA says this is irrelevant in assessing penalties. For misappropriating client funds, Olanrewaju is fined $60,000, for misleading CIBC he is fined another $25,000. The MFDA also ordered the former representative to pay costs in the amount of $10,000.
