A hearing panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) accepted a settlement agreement between IIROC staff and David Charles Parkinson.
Parkinson admitted that he entered orders and trades on behalf of a client that he ought reasonably to have known would create or could reasonably be expected to create an artificial price for two TSXV securities. Parkinson had a gatekeeper obligation to be aware of and alert to manipulative and deceptive activity or potentially manipulative and deceptive activity.
Specifically, Parkinson admitted to the following violation:
(a) while a registered representative at CIBC World Markets Inc., entered orders and executed trades on the TSXV for the shares of Covalon Technologies Inc. in the period November 2007 to December 2007 and in March 2008 and for the shares of Digger Resources Ltd. in the period November 2007 to December 2007 that he ought reasonably to have known would create or could reasonably be expected to create an artificial bid price and/or sale price for the securities, contrary to UMIR 2.2(2)(b) and UMIR Policy 2.2, for which he is liable under UMIR 10.4(1).
Pursuant to the agreement, Mr. Parkinson agreed to the following penalty:
(a) a fine of $30,000.00; and
(b) a suspension from access to all IIROC-regulated marketplaces for a period of six months, effective from June 2010 when his employment was terminated and he ceased to be a registrant with an IIROC-regulated firm.
Parkinson also agreed to pay costs in the amount of $10,000.00.
Read the settlement agreement.
IIROC formally initiated the investigation into Parkinson’s conduct in August 2008. The violation occurred when Parkinson was a registered representative at the Edmonton branch of CIBC World Markets Inc., an IIROC-regulated firm. Parkinson is no longer a registrant with an IIROC-regulated firm.