Financial advisor receives fine
Powell River financial advisor Paul Sian has been fined for failing to report a gift of $750,000 from a client to his assistant, Brian McCullough, in 2013.
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) released details of the settlement it reached with Sian on Monday, May 1.
Sian has agreed to pay a $20,000 fine for failing to report the gift to Scotia Capital. He had also been fined $20,000 by Scotia.
The regulator also found that Sian failed to follow industry rules requiring advisors to make reasonable inquiries into the circumstances for clients liquidating investment accounts.
McCullough, who sold mutual funds for Sian, was fired in 2015 after it came to light that he had taken the gift and faced a lawsuit over it after his former client died in 2014. McCullough had known the client since 1999 and they had a close relationship, according to the IIROC ruling.
In December 2016, the regulator fined McCullough $80,000 and handed him a five-year ban from working in financial advising for breach of professional ethics.
Voter turnout increases
Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding ranked third in the province for absentee ballots, according to results from Elections BC’s final vote count.
The final count, which included all absentee ballots, put the riding’s voter turnout at 72 per cent, about 10 per cent higher than the provincial average.
A total of 26,913 votes were cast in the riding from a total of 37,458 eligible voters.
