The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) has recommended that Sentinel Financial Management compensate an investor for $55,000, but the company has refused to do so.

As part of its "name and shame" initiative, OBSI has published the details of a case involving a retired investor named "Ms. G" who was 63 years old when she started investing at Sentinel. OBSI says Ms G's income consisted of Canada Pension Plan payments, Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement, and occasional withdrawals from her modest Locked-In Retirement Account. Ms. G. relied heavily on her Sentinel advisor for investment advice.

In March 2012, Ms. G gave her advisor $55,000 to place in an off-book security that was presented as a guaranteed investment, giving her the option of choosing a one- to five-year term at various rates of return. In fact, instead of investing the funds, Sentinel advisor Adelia Marie Kaminsky (identified only as "Ms. K" in the OBSI document) was depositing money from investors into her personal bank account.

Sentinel terminated Kaminsky’s employment on March 4, 2013, and the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA) issued a cease-trade order against her last year. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) also launched a criminal investigation against Kaminsky, eventually charging her for having defrauded ten people of more than $600,000; she pled guilty and in March 2015 Provincial Court of Saskatchewan Judge Daniel J. O'Hanlon sentenced her to four years in a federal penitentiary.

"Ms. G has not recovered any money through the FCAA process or the RCMP’s criminal investigation," says OBSI. "As a result, she has lost her entire investment of $55,000."