After pleading guilty to all three counts in the disciplinary complaint, advisor Silviu Mihali (certificate No. 186994) was handed a five-month temporary suspension by the discipline committee of the Chambre de l’assurance.

The respondent submitted written admissions of guilt on July 20, 2026. The committee asked him to repeat them verbally at the hearing held on July 23. The decision, dated October 8, 2026 and available only in French, was made public by the Chambre on October 28.

At the time of the alleged misconduct, the respondent held certificates in life and health insurance, group annuity plans and financial planning. He was employed by the firm of a life insurance company that was a subsidiary of a financial institution in the Montreal area.

Suspensions were imposed on the respondent for each of the three counts and will be served concurrently beginning November 24, 2026, the Chambre said.

For all three offences, the respondent falsified or allowed various documents to be falsified. The sanction was jointly recommended by the parties and approved by the committee.

The offence established under each of the three counts is prohibited by Section 35 of the Code of Ethics of the Chambre de la sécurité financière. The committee ordered a conditional stay of proceedings with respect to the other section of the Code cited in support of the complaint.

In December 2019, the respondent participated in the falsification of two everyday banking statements and a bank transaction statement (count 1). This offence resulted in a five-month temporary suspension.

In July 2021, he repeated this misconduct by falsifying COVID-19 test results (count 2). This act was punished with a one-month temporary suspension.

Finally, in April and May 2023, the respondent altered two bank statements belonging to a company of which he was one of the directors (count 3). The committee imposed a three-month temporary suspension.

The circumstances

Although the acts in question were not committed in the course of his duties at the firm, the syndic considered them sufficiently connected to those duties to constitute professional misconduct.

Regarding count 1, the respondent owned a property in Laval that he wished to sell to a third party. To enable the buyer to obtain a mortgage loan, Mihali altered information appearing in the banking documents of the third party and his spouse.

With respect to the COVID-19 test results, the respondent altered 12 documents concerning four members of a friend's family who had stayed in Florida.

The company mentioned in count 3 was controlled by the respondent's spouse. He used his employer's computer resources to alter these documents.

The financial institution discovered that the respondent had been transmitting the falsified documents through his work email address. The investigation led to his dismissal in September 2023.

In July 2024, the Autorité des marchés financiers imposed conditions on his certificate for the disciplines in which he practiced. He was required to be attached to a firm where he was not the responsible officer and to work under supervision.

The respondent was ordered to pay the disbursements and the costs of publishing the disciplinary decision. He was granted six months to pay the disbursements in equal monthly instalments.