Former PI exec fined, banned in Ng fraud

The former brokerage executive who helped Gary Ng deceive lenders into providing him with tens of millions of dollars in financing has been fined $2.5 million and banned from the industry.

A hearing panel of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) imposed sanctions on Donald Warren Metcalfe — the former president and chief operating officer of Chippingham Financial Group Ltd. and the executive vice-chairman and director of PI Financial Corp. — for his role in Ng’s fraud.

Last December, the panel found Metcalfe engaged in fraudulent conduct when he verified Ng’s purported ownership of assets that were used for collateral to secure $172 million in financing.

In November 2018, Ng bought brokerage firm PI Financial for $100 million in cash — a deal financed by borrowing against his purported investment portfolio.

However, it was later discovered that the accounts used to secure the loans either didn’t exist or were falsified to “grossly overstate the value of the financial assets purportedly held in these securities accounts,” the panel noted.

In addition to enabling Ng’s fraud, the panel also found Metcalfe failed to cooperate with CIRO’s investigators.

Now, the panel has imposed a $2.5-million fine, ordered $68,000 in costs and permanently banned him.

The panel will issue its reasons for the decision in the future.

In 2022, Ng was fined the maximum $5 million, ordered to pay $194,000 in costs and permanently banned by the self-regulatory organization for his misconduct.

Separately, the Ontario Securities Commission has alleged that executives at one of Ng’s lenders, Bridging Finance Inc., also enabled his fraud. Those allegations have not been proven, and the regulator’s hearing in that case is nearing a conclusion.