MFDA permanently bans another man for falsifying a loan application

Another man has been permanently banned by the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA) and ordered to pay a fine after he allegedly submitted a falsified application for a personal line of credit.

In a notice of hearing from Oct. 2018, the MFDA alleged that Roman Vendrov, a former dealing rep with Shah Financial Planning Inc. in Toronto, applied for a personal line of credit for $60,000 with Investors Group Financial Services Inc. using false information on March 14, 2016. Vendrov was terminated by Shah on Nov. 16, 2016.

In addition to being employed by Shah, Vendrov was also a Shah client whose account was serviced by another Shah employee — referred to by the MFDA as NK — who partially completed Vendrov’s line of credit application, the MFDA said. (NK is the respondent in a separate and ongoing MFDA disciplinary proceeding.)

The MFDA alleged that Vendrov’s application falsely claimed he held assets valued at $319,289.65 in an account with Hampton Securities Ltd., and units of the Marquest Monthly Pay Fund Class A mutual fund valued at more than $180,000.

Vendrov provided a fabricated account statement from Hampton, but did not have a Hampton account, the MFDA said. In addition, he provided an account statement from Shah stating that he held units of the Marquest fund valued at $188,115.29, when the actual value of the units on Dec. 31, 2015, was $121,915.29.

Vendrov’s application was approved, and he obtained at least $49,386 from the line of credit.

“By virtue of the foregoing, the Respondent failed to observe high standards of ethics and conduct in the transaction of business or engaged in conduct which is unbecoming and detrimental to the public interest,” the MFDA wrote in its notice of hearing.

The MFDA said it became aware of the alleged misconduct after Investors Group, also an MFDA member, filed reports on the MFDA’s Member Event Tracking System in May 2016. These reports indicated that other individuals, including NK, had also submitted falsified documents to obtain loans and lines of credit.

Vendrov did not cooperate with the MFDA’s investigation, which prevented the self-regulatory organization from fully determining the nature and extent of his conduct. It also prevented the MFDA from determining whether Vendrov had any knowledge of falsified loan applications submitted by NK.

The MFDA announced Monday that it had imposed a permanent ban on Vendrov, in addition to ordering that he pay a $115,000 fine and $7,500 in costs.

This marks the second time in the past week that the MFDA has permanently banned a former rep for allegedly falsifying a line of credit application.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.