Investment advisors fined by Securities Commission often don’t pay up
Posted Jan 21, 2012 8:50 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
How much does it mean when the Alberta Securities Commission prosecutes a shady investment advisor and fines them?
According to the Calgary Herald the answer is not much.
The paper reports over the past eight years the regulator has issued $14.6 million in fines. It’s collected $2.3 million. That’s a collection rate of less than 16 per cent.
It’s prompted Ken Kivenko, chairman of the Small Investor Protector Association, to comment: “white-collar crime does pay in Canada.”
Some recent examples of the disparity between the fines and what the Securities Commission actually collects includes a $1.5 million levy against David Jones of Wealth Street. Investor Tony Town points out that Jones had already declared bankruptcy.
Facing fraud charges over a multi-million dollar ponzi scheme, Milowe Brost was fined $650,000. The ASC collected just over $76,000 on the foreclosure of his home.
