Ex-fund rep banned for borrowing from widower

A former mutual fund rep was fined and banned after a regulatory hearing panel found she borrowed from a client.

A panel of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) imposed a permanent ban on Omadai (Amy) Sukhai, a former rep with PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. in Toronto, and ordered her to pay a fine of $213,509 and $10,000 in costs after finding that she violated the self-regulatory organization’s rules.

The sanctions follow a disciplinary hearing that found Sukhai borrowed money from a client, which wasn’t disclosed to her dealer, and resulted in a conflict of interest that wasn’t resolved in the client’s best interests.

According to the SRO’s allegations, Sukhai began borrowing money from a client in 2017, taking a series of payments that ultimately totalled almost $140,000.

The client, a retired widower, redeemed funds from his RRSP — paying deferred sales charges and taxes — in order to lend the money to Sukhai, the SRO alleged. CIRO also stated the widower took a cash advance from a credit card to loan money to his advisor.

“[Sukhai] deposited some or all of the amounts that she obtained from [the] client into her personal bank accounts, and used the monies to pay her personal expenses,” the SRO alleged, adding that she did not repay the loans.

Sukhai’s firm terminated her in May 2021 after the misconduct was discovered.

The reasons for the panel’s decision have not yet been released.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.