A Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) hearing panel has accepted a settlement agreement with former BMO Investments Inc. advisor, Natasha Maureen Goodison, banning Goodison from conducting securities related business in any capacity for any MFDA member firm, after Goodison admitted that she misappropriated $7,000 from one client.
Registered from August 2009 until December 2017, Goodison was also the firm’s designated branch manager from July 2014 until December 2017. According to the settlement agreement, Goodison was also an employee of the Bank of Montreal until March 2019.
In January 2009, one of the bank’s clients obtained four checks from the bank, totalling $7,000, and instructed the bank to hold the checks until her death before distributing the checks to the four payees whose names were indicated on the checks. The bank placed the checks in its vault for safekeeping.
In early 2016, Goodison admits she took the checks from the bank’s vault, depositing them into her own account. When the client passed away, their executor requested the checks, which could not be located. After admitting to the theft in February 2019, Goodison reimbursed the bank. In January 2021 she pleaded guilty and was convicted of one count of theft over $5,000, before serving a six-month conditional sentence.
In addition to being permanently banned from working as an advisor, the MFDA also fined Goodison $7,500, plus costs totaling $5,000.
