TORONTO – The mutual fund regulator looking to strip a Cornwall financial adviser of his ability to trade securities has withdrawn its application.
The Mutual Fund Dealers Association was granted an interim order during an application hearing on Oct. 24 prohibiting Gilles Latour from trading securities outside Equity Associates Inc.
Equity Associates Inc. is a mutual fund dealer and a provider of mutual funds to Latour Financial Group that is regulated by the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada.
The three person hearing panel was scheduled to reconvene on Nov. 11 to make its decision.
However, the MFDA announced Friday afternoon it was withdrawing its case against Latour because of new developments.
In a statement, the mutual fund regulator says Latour was no longer registered “in the securities industry in any capacity.”
“The dealer that he (Latour) was sponsored by (Equity Associates Inc.) terminated Mr. Latour,” MFDA spokeman Hugh Corbett told Cornwall Newswatch. “So now that he’s terminated he is no longer an approved person subject to our jurisdiction.”
“He’s (Latour) no longer a mutual fund salesperson licenced in the Province of Ontario,” Corbett said in an interview with Cornwall Newswatch.
But the withdrawal of the application doesn’t necessarily mean the MFDA has closed its case.
“We have the power to continue to investigate him and, if necessary, bring a disciplinary processing against him,” Corbett said. However, he couldn’t disclose whether there’s an open investigation. “We’re continuing to look at the circumstances that gave rise to the need to bring the interim application.”
Latour is facing criminal charges of fraud over $5,000, theft by conversion, breach of trust and false pretenses.
He is accused of defrauding two investors of just over $200,000. The MFDA says it has also collected evidence of four more clients it believes were also defrauded. In all, the victims allege they lost or have not been paid back a total of $615,946.
The alleged incidents investigated by Cornwall police are said to have happened between May, 2012 and December, 2013.
Latour will next appear in a Cornwall court on Nov. 27 for a continuation of his first appearance.
Be the first to comment