IN THE MATTER OF John Anastasious Collias - Penalty

VANCOUVER , Oct. 19 /CNW/ - Following a disciplinary hearing held on May 12-13, 2009, in Vancouver , BC, a Hearing Panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) found that John Anastasious Collias (the Respondent) breached Regulation 1300.1(a) as follows:

    
    (a)    In or about January and February 2005, the Respondent, at all
           material times a Registered Representative with Golden Capital
           Securities Ltd. (Golden), a Member Firm, failed to properly
           perform his role as a gatekeeper to the capital markets and acted
           contrary to Regulation 1300.1(a) by failing to make diligent
           inquiries to ensure that he learned about the essential facts of
           two clients with respect to the opening of their accounts; and

    (b)    In or about January and February 2005, the Respondent, at all
           material times a Registered Representative at Golden, a Member
           Firm, failed to properly perform his role as gatekeeper to the
           capital markets and acted contrary to Regulation 1300.1(a) by
           facilitating certain transactional activity in three client
           accounts without making diligent inquiries to ensure the
           legitimacy of the transactions in circumstances which should have
           called the transactional activity into question because it was
           peculiar, suspicious, or appeared to be consistent with market
           manipulation, deception, or other improper market-related
           activity.
    

The Hearing Panel issued its Decision and Reasons on May 26, 2009 . In a separate penalty decision dated August 31, 2009 (and issued on October 2 , 2009), the Hearing Panel ordered the Respondent to pay a fine of $5,000 and a further $5,000 in costs.

IIROC formally initiated the investigation into the Respondent's conduct on August 29, 2006 . The violations occurred when the Respondent was a Registered Representative with the 1177 West Hastings Street Branch of Golden. The Respondent is no longer a registrant with an IIROC-regulated firm.

The Hearing Panel's Decision and Reasons are available at www.iiroc.ca.

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, [phone], [email protected]; Jeff Kehoe, Director, Enforcement, [phone], [email protected]