A Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) hearing panel has accepted a settlement agreement between CIRO staff and Samantha Cauvier, wherein Cauvier agrees to a two-month suspension after she instructed a client to falsely inform her dealer that the client was a resident of Ontario. Similarly, Cauvier recorded that another Alberta client was a resident of Ontario when opening a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) with the firm.

Registered since February 2017 as a dealing representative with PFSL Investments Canada Ltd., the Carleton Place, Ontario-area representative is also being sanctioned for processing the purchase of mutual funds for a client who lived in a province where she was not registered.

Specifically, Cauvier instructed a client, identified as KH in the settlement agreement, to tell PFSL to update her address to an Ontario address which belonged to an unlicensed trainee working under Cauvier. She also instructed the client to tell the dealer that she would be the dealing representative responsible for servicing her accounts going forward.

When her other Alberta client, dubbed JM in the agreement, opened an RESP account, she similarly used the unlicensed assistant’s address. When JM later learned that approved persons are required to be registered in the province where they engage in securities-related business, she complained to PFSL about Cauvier’s conduct and cancelled her pre-authorized contributions and closed the RESP account. The dealer issued a warning letter to Cauvier in June 2021.

The settlement agreement notes that Cauvier is unable to pay significant monetary penalties and has expressed remorse. In addition to the two-month suspension, Cauvier must also pay a fine in the amount of $2,500 and costs totalling $5,000.