A hearing panel of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has imposed a $10,000 fine on Dale Richard Wells. The panel has also ordered Mr. Wells to pay $13,000 in costs.
The panel’s penalty decision follows its earlier decision dated October 27, 2010, which found that Mr. Wells violated IIROC rules by engaging in business conduct unbecoming or detrimental to the public interest when he acted in the role of an advisor without being registered as one.
The hearing panel will issue its written reasons on the penalty at a later date. It will be made available at www.iiroc.ca.
Specifically, the panel found that Mr. Wells committed a violation by entering into an arrangement to supply a financial services company with his own computer-generated research that recommended buy and sell opportunities related to mutual funds in return for a fee, and that this information was used regularly by that firm to make trades in an investment fund. In doing so, Mr. Wells acted as an advisor within the meaning of the Alberta Securities Act without being registered as such, contrary to IIROC Rule 29.1.
IIROC began the investigation into Mr. Wells’ conduct in March 2008. The violation occurred from February 2006 to July 2008, while Mr. Wells was a Registered Representative with the Lloydminster, Alberta branch of First Financial Securities Inc., an IIROC-regulated firm. Mr. Wells is still a Registered Representative with that firm.