Investment Executive | MFDA fines former advisor $6 million
Penalty against Paul Yoannou is one of the largest levied by the MFDA.
A hearing panel of the Toronto-based Mutual Fund Dealers’ Association of Canada (MFDA) has fined former financial advisor, Paul Yoannou of Ontario, $6 million for the misappropriation of client funds.
The MFDA investigation into Yoannou began in September of 2012. Originally, the MFDA alleged that Yoannou, who worked for Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. at the time, had misappropriated nearly $12 million from 55 clients between February 2006 and July 2011. That amount was reduced to $6 million to reflect the former advisor’s guilty plea to15 counts of fraud over $5,000 in a criminal action in February 2013.
“This is one of the largest if not the largest [cases of] fraud before the MFDA,” said Francis Roy, enforcement counsel for the regulator. Roy also added that the multi-million dollar penalty is one of the largest fines ever levied by the MFDA.