Investment advisor accused of misconduct in Mississauga

An investment advisor working in Mississauga is accused of selling $1.5 million in securities for his own company while not authorized to do so.

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, the national self-regulatory organization that oversees all investment dealers, mutual fund dealers and trading activity on Canada’s debt and equity marketplaces, is continuing a hearing into the dealings of Paul O’Brian Walker.

Walker was an advisor for Equity Associates Inc., a Richmond Hill investment company, from 2010 and 2021, according to a notice of hearing from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization.

Although the company is in Richmond Hill, Walker worked in Mississauga where he also started IFS Global Technologies Inc., a financial technology company intended to develop software for mutual fund advisors.

Walker was a director, the chairman and president, a shareholder, and a creditor of IFS from 2010 until IFS’s dissolution in August 2017.

According to the notice of hearing, Equity Associates Inc. was aware of and approved of Walker’s operation of IFS but not the sale of its securities to clients.

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But Walker allegedly sold approximately $1,533,772 in IFS securities to at least 25 clients and 25 other people between June 2010 and August 2017, the notice of hearing notes.

None of the investors received any return or the repayment of the principal amounts that they invested in the IFS Securities, according to the notice of hearing.

He is also accused of obtaining a short-term $40,000 loan from a client for a development deal. The loan was allegedly never re-paid.

The next hearing date into this case is scheduled for Jan. 22 via video conference. The hearing is open to the public.

For more information, see the notice here and the notice of hearing here.

Photo:  Sora Shimazaki