CORNWALL – A city financial adviser is facing another round of disciplinary action from the body overseeing mutual fund dealers in Canada.
The Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) announced Friday (Jan. 8) it’s moving forward with the first phase of a disciplinary hearing after filing a notice of hearing Nov. 18, 2015.
Gilles Latour, or his representative, has been called to appear before the hearing panel in Toronto by teleconference Feb. 2, 2016.
The meeting will allow both sides to set a date for a formal hearing, called a Hearing on the Merits.
In the November Notice of Hearing, the MFDA made two allegations.
It claims Latour solicited or accepted a total of $651,946 from at least three “vulnerable” clients between May 2007 and October 2014 and has failed to return or account for the money.
The MFDA further accuses Latour of being uncooperative with MFDA staff as they try to figure out if there were any other victims and the scope of his alleged actions.
“To date, the Respondent has not provided Staff with a response to the requested information, and has failed or refused to attend for an interview with Staff,” states the notice of hearing.
Latour had faced a securities hearing in October 2014 but the MFDA later withdrew its application saying Latour was ‘no longer a mutual fund salesperson.’
In a November 2014 interview with Cornwall Newswatch, MFDA spokesman Hugh Corbett indicated the agency still had the power to investigate and could bring further action against Latour.
If found responsible, the mutual fund regulator has a number of penalties it could impose, ranging from fines up to $5 million per offence to revoking or prohibiting Latour from securities trading.
It should be noted that the MFDA hearings are not criminal proceedings and do not deal with the criminal charges Latour is facing.
In Cornwall, a court appearance is scheduled for June 15, 2016 for a preliminary hearing on Latour’s 43 charges including fraud, theft, breach of trust and obtaining an investment by false pretenses.