The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) has imposed administrative penalties in the amount of $133,500 on Daniel George Gordon and $150,000 on Gordon Wealth Management. The sanctions come after the agent earned more than $900,648 in commissions on business from a client which ultimately declared bankruptcy – after years of Gordon also serving as that company’s chief financial officer.

The former agent is also being sanctioned for coercing an employee (Gordon was earlier sanctioned by another regulator for the outside business activities), by requiring the employee to purchase insurance as a condition of employment.

Failed to disclose outside business activities 

Additional transgressions include failing to maintain errors and omissions (E&O) insurance for 14 months and for providing the FSRA with false, misleading and incomplete information when he failed to disclose both the outside business activities over the course of several years, and also that he was the subject of a regulatory investigation.

Licensed between August 1997 and May 2022, while Gordon Wealth Management was licensed between April 2010 and July 2021, Gordon was sanctioned by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). IIROC is one of the predecessor organizations which later became the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), in May 2022. At the time, he was ordered to pay an $80,000 fine and costs in the amount of $20,000 for prohibited outside business activities which include negotiating corporate loans, mortgages, contract details and business partnerships and generally advising on financial matters for his client’s pharmaceutical services company, CMP.

“Gordon first started managing PM’s registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) investments in the late 1990s or early 2000s. He was PM’s primary investment advisor. Gordon was also the insurance agent for both PM and KM (married business owners of CMP). Gordon’s relations with CMP began in the 2000s when the pharmacy first opened an investment account with him. Starting in 2008 the company also began to purchase insurance products through him. CMP employed or contracted Gordon, either directly or through corporations owned by him, starting in January 2014. At the time, Gordon was CFO of CMP, managing, among other things, banking, loans, payroll and cashflow,” the notice of proposal in the case states. 

Gordon did not disclose the continued relationship he had with CMP after being told the activity was prohibited, which later led to the IIROC sanctions.

“Between 2008 and when Gordon ceased being a consultant with CMP in February 2020, PM, KM and CMP purchased 55 insurance policies with Gordon as the agent. The policies were not all active at the same time. The peak number of active policies was in early 2019 when CMP, PM and KM collectively owned 42 policies,” the notice continues. 

“In 2013, before Gordon joined CMP, the total annual premiums paid by PM, KM and CMP were roughly $329,000. By 2017, the premiums had increased to over $1-million. By 2019, the insurance premiums were $1,781,580. Between 2008 and 2020, PM, KM and CMP paid total premiums of approximately $7,190,250 on policies they purchased through Gordon. Of this amount, they paid $6,406,580 between 2014 and 2020.”

The agent received at least one commission as high as $87,856 for the sale of one whole life policy to CMP. 

Employee required to purchase insurance 

The employee required to purchase insurance through Gordon as a condition of employment, meanwhile, maintained the policy for more than five years. In addition to his CFO’s salary (as much as $320,000 a year) and commissions being generated by the CMP business, Gordon also received a commission of $3,669.30 for the life policy sale to the CMP employee.

CMP was assigned into bankruptcy by its creditors in September 2020. PM has also made a personal proposal in bankruptcy to his creditors.

After requesting a hearing, drawing out the hearing process first initiated in 2022, in June 2025 Gordon fired his legal counsel and indicated by email that he would not be attending any of the requisite hearing dates due to health concerns.

Absence of useful medical documentation 

“The absence of useful medical documentation is a significant factor in this motion,” the reasons for decision and motion to dismiss from the Financial Services Tribunal states. “It is also significant that the applicant has failed to take the steps necessary to move this proceeding forward.” 

After Gordon failed to meet the tribunal’s deadlines, the tribunal’s reasons continue saying “the only remaining question is whether Mr. Gordon is willing and able to advance this matter at a later date. On that issue, I am prepared to give him one last chance,” they add, before extending the 30-day notice period required by an additional five days. “If he fails to deliver adequate medical documentation, request a new pre-hearing conference, or deliver written submissions by July 24, 2025, then this proceeding will be deemed to be dismissed without further hearing and without further notice.” 

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