By The Book: IDA fines, suspends ex-Desjardins reps

(March 14, 2008) The Investments Dealers Association of Canada has suspended two Toronto men for two months, ordering them each to pay a fine of $25,000. Jeffrey Bradford Kasman and Clinton Anderson must also pony up $40,000 in costs to the IDA and successfully complete the Conduct and Practices exam.

While working at Desjardins Securities, the two men were found to have facilitated manipulative and/or deceptive trading in securities, violating IDA bylaw 29.1.

“The conduct of the respondents in this case was unacceptable. Their dereliction of duty was inexcusable. They did not just misperform their ‘know your client’ and ‘due diligence’ obligations, they failed utterly to perform them at all,” the IDA hearing panel said in its ruling. “The respondents’ conduct facilitated the market manipulation. Market manipulation is extremely detrimental to the reputation and integrity of the capital markets even where there is no evidence of direct harm to anyone.”

The IDA did take into account some mitigating circumstances; the two did not plan or participate in the manipulation, and they received “no training or supervisory support.” The IDA could identify no harm to the firm or any third party, and the dollar value of the manipulation was minor.

The panel also pointed out that since the incident, the two had been model employees. The two men are currently registered reps with Research Capital.in Toronto.

(03/14/08)

Staff

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