MFDA issues Notice of Settlement Hearing in respect of Hugh Smilestone

TORONTO, Dec. 28, 2012 /CNW/ - The MFDA today announced that it has issued a Notice of Settlement Hearing regarding the presentation, review and consideration of a proposed settlement agreement by a Hearing Panel of the MFDA's Atlantic Regional Council.

The settlement agreement will be between Staff of the MFDA and Hugh Blair Smilestone (the "Respondent") and involves matters for which the Respondent may be disciplined by a Hearing Panel pursuant to MFDA By-laws.

The proposed agreement concerns allegations that the Respondent:

(a)	falsified client signatures and initials on account documents and falsified the content of certain other documents and provided signature guarantees on trade tickets that contained falsified client signatures;
(b)	engaged in unauthorized discretionary trading;
(c)	failed to comply with conditions imposed on him by the Member with respect to the approval of his outside business activity; and
(d)	provided false responses to the Member's compliance staff during the course of a branch review.

The settlement hearing is scheduled to take place on January 8, 2013 commencing at 10:00 a.m. (Atlantic) in the hearing room located at the Nova Scotia Securities Commission, 5251 Duke Street, Suite 400, Duke Tower, Halifax, Nova Scotia. The hearing will be open to the public, except as may be required for the protection of confidential matters.

A copy of the Notice of Settlement Hearing is available on the MFDA website at www.mfda.ca.

The MFDA is the self-regulatory organization for Canadian mutual fund dealers, regulating the operations, standards of practice and business conduct of its 117 Members and their approximately 80,000 Approved Persons with a mandate to protect investors and the public interest.

 

SOURCE: Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada

Shaun Devlin
Vice-President, Enforcement
416-943-4672 or [email protected]