IN THE MATTER OF Carolann Steinhoff - Penalty
VANCOUVER, June 28 /CNW/ - Notice is hereby given that a hearing will be held before a Hearing Panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), on Tuesday, July 6, 2010, at Reportex Agencies Ltd., located at 925 West Georgia Street, Suite 1010, Vancouver, British Columbia, at 10:00 a.m., to determine the penalty to be imposed in the matter of Carolann Steinhoff (the Respondent).
The hearing was originally scheduled to commence May 13, 2010, however, on that day, the Hearing Panel ordered an adjournment until July 6, 2010 after the Respondent requested an adjournment, which IIROC opposed.
The hearing concerns matters for which the Respondent will be disciplined as an Approved Person of IIROC, pursuant to Part 10 of IIROC Dealer Member Rule 20.
The penalty imposed will pertain to findings that the Respondent:
1. From approximately January 2004 until approximately March 17, 2007, engaged in business conduct or practice that was unbecoming or detrimental to the public interest contrary to Dealer Member Rule 29.1, by encouraging, instructing, or condoning the use of a cut and paste procedure whereby her assistants created fake documents and faxed them to her firm's head office as properly executed documents; 2. On March 13, 2007, and March 14, 2007, engaged in business conduct or practice that was unbecoming or detrimental to the public interest contrary to Dealer Member Rule 29.1 in that she directly instructed two different assistants to create a false client Guarantee and fax it to her firm's head office as a properly executed document by: (a) changing the date on an approximately 3-year-old Guarantee and inserting a new date without having the client sign it; and (b) cutting out the client signature from another document already on file and pasting it on to a new Guarantee and then photocopying and faxing it; and 3. From approximately March 2007 to October 2008 engaged in business conduct or practice that was unbecoming or detrimental to the public interest contrary to Dealer Member Rule 29.1 in that she attempted to frustrate or obstruct separate investigations being conducted by her firm and by IIROC into the subject matter of Counts 1 and 2 by: (a) providing answers that were not true or complete with respect to her actions and intentions relating to those Counts; (b) altering a courier delivery receipt so as to support a version of the facts that she had previously given and presenting it in its altered version to IIROC investigators; and (c) suborning her assistant Bonnie Reside to make evasive or misleading statements to her firm and IIROC that were favourable to the Respondent and consistent with the story she had told them.
IIROC formally initiated the investigation into the Respondent's conduct on July 3, 2007. The violations occurred when the Respondent was a Registered Representative (RR) with the 240-730 View Street Branch of Wellington West Capital Inc. in Victoria, British Columbia. The Respondent is currently an RR with the 340A-730 View Street, Victoria, British Columbia sub-branch of Queensbury Securities Inc., an IIROC-regulated firm.
The hearing is open to the public, unless the Hearing Panel orders otherwise. The Hearing Panel's decision and reasons will be made available to the public.
IIROC is the national self-regulatory organization which oversees all investment dealers and trading activity on debt and equity marketplaces in Canada. Created in 2008 through the consolidation of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada and Market Regulation Services Inc., IIROC sets high quality regulatory and investment industry standards, protects investors and strengthens market integrity while maintaining efficient and competitive capital markets. IIROC carries out its regulatory responsibilities through setting and enforcing rules regarding the proficiency, business and financial conduct of dealer firms and their registered employees and through setting and enforcing market integrity rules regarding trading activity on Canadian equity marketplaces.
For further information: Warren Funt, Vice President, Western Canada, 604.331.4750, [email protected]; Jeff Kehoe, Acting Vice President, Enforcement, 416 943.6996, [email protected]
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