Former fund rep sanctioned over clients’ estate disclosures

A former fund rep has been suspended for eight years and fined for failing to report that his wife was named the executor of one client’s will, and that he received a bequest from another client’s estate.

A hearing panel of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) approved a settlement with Roger Eldred Gebhardt, a former rep with IPC Investment Corp. in Hanover, Ont., that included an eight-year ban from the fund industry and a $70,000 fine, along with $7,500 in costs.

The sanctions stem from admissions that Gebhardt failed to disclose conflicts of interest involving two clients.

According to the settlement, in September 2018 Gebhardt failed to disclose a conflict to his dealer when an elderly client named Gebhardt’s wife as the sole executor and beneficiary of his estate. The client had no family apart from a sister from whom he was estranged.

Later that year, Gebhardt also failed to disclose that he’d received a $25,000 bequest from another client’s estate.

In both cases, the clients sought to name Gebhardt as the executor of their estates, but he told the clients that he was not permitted to take that role.

The settlement noted there’s no evidence that he was involved with the subsequent preparation of the clients’ wills, and that there were no complaints brought in either case.

However, in both instances, he was required to disclose the potential conflict as soon as it arose, the settlement said.

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.