MFDA hearing for Gilles Latour will proceed

In this Oct. 22, 2012, file photo, Gilles Latour makes a presentation to Cornwall city council. Latour is facing another round of disciplinary action in May 2016 from the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada. (Newswatch Group/File)

CORNWALL – A Cornwall financial adviser and former head of Team Cornwall is expected to appear this spring for a hearing with Canada’s regulator of mutual fund dealers.

The Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada Notice of Hearing panel ruled last week that proceedings for Gilles Latour will proceed and has scheduled two days in May.

“The Hearing on the Merits, which is the full hearing where staff presents its evidence and Latour presents any response he chooses to make,” MFDA spokesman Shaun Devlin told Cornwall Newswatch.

The MFDA has alleged that Latour solicited or accepted a total of $651,946 from at least three older “vulnerable” clients between 2007 and 2014 and failed to return or account for the money.

The agency further accuses Latour of being uncooperative with MFDA staff during its investigation.

Latour told the Seaway News in January he has been “very cooperative and respective of the (MFDA) process” and fully intends to clear his name.

MFDA spokesman Devlin said there’s a very good probability Latour be at the hearing.

“There’s no rule that he (Latour) has to be there. Normally, they are. Some of our cases proceed without the person being there but most of them, they’re there. Of course, if he doesn’t show up, that may work against him in the hearing,” Devlin said.

If found guilty, there are a number of penalties it could impose, ranging from fines up to $5 million per offence to revoking or prohibiting Latour from securities trading.

The hearing, which is open to the public, will happen on May 30 and May 31 at 10 a.m. at the MFDA offices at 121 King Street West, Suite 1000, in Toronto.

This hearing is not a criminal proceeding and is separate from Latour’s 43 criminal charges, which are scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Cornwall, Ont. on June 15, 2016.