A Toronto-area financial advisor has been permanently banned from conducting securities business and ordered to pay a fine of $850,000, plus costs, after she acted “egregiously” in a case that dealt with $2.2 million of investor money.
In making its decision, a panel of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada said Rebecca Wai-Chiu Li went to great lengths to conceal her misconduct.
The panel said the case involved at least $2.2 million that was invested – and likely lost – by clients and others in syndicated mortgage investments, which Li was not registered to conduct. She also received at least $173,000 in fees and $480,000 into bank accounts under her control from clients and others, which she apparently kept or used for her own benefit.
Clients didn’t know where money went
Investors did not know where the money had gone from the syndicated mortgages. One couple invested a total of $100,000 and only received $9,000 in interest payments.
The panel set out eight allegations of misconduct against Li, including engaging in securities-related business and undisclosed and unapproved outside business activities. It also said Li provided false and misleading information and failed to co-operate with the MFDA’s investigation.
Basically, the panel said Li obtained and used powers of attorneys from clients and then “recommended, sold, facilitated the sale of, or made referrals in respect of the sale of approximately $2.2 million in syndicated mortgages to at least 13 clients and two other individuals who were not clients. [MFDA] Staff submitted that ‘the entire investment scheme was at best a total failure’ and that aggregate client harm was very significant.”
