Published: December 20, 2012
Decisions and Freeze and cease trade ordersSecurities

Montréal - On December 12, 2012, Justice Louise Bourdeau of the Court of Québec found Jacques Gagné guilty of the seven charges filed against him by the Autorité des marchés financiers(the "AMF").

Mr. Gagné was accused of illegally practising as a securities adviser by managing a securities portfolio pursuant to a mandate. Justice Bourdeau accepted the evidence given by the witnesses that they had done business with Mr. Gagné after seeing a classified ad in a newspaper stating that they could receive a cash loan if they had a LIRA, a LIF or an RRSP.

At Mr. Gagné's request, the investors opened a Disnat discount brokerage account and gave the defendant their access codes. The defendant was to manage the transferred funds and the investors agreed not to trade in their brokerage accounts themselves. Each of them received a sum of money as a loan which was to be repaid out of the profits generated by managing the portfolio. Some investors said that the expected term of the mandate was two years.

The judge ordered Jacques Gagné to pay a total of $806,000 in fines.

Recognizing RRSP fraud

This decision serves as a reminder to Quebeckers of the importance of ensuring that the representative and firm they are doing business with are registered with the AMF and of visiting the AMF website to learn how to recognize the signs of RRSP fraud.

The Autorité des marchés financiers(the AMF) is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec's financial sector.

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