MFDA rules that advisor engaged in personal financial dealings with clients
Brent Michael Polischuk has been banned from securities related business and fined $75,000 by the MFDA (now CIRO). In its decisions and reasons the MFDA published that Polischuk engaged in personal financial dealings with clients giving rise to conflicts and potential conflicts of interest. The decision also found that Polischuk made false of misleading statements to his dealer, as well as failing to cooperate with the investigation by MFDA staff.
Polischuk was a dealing representative with Sun Life Financial Investment Services in Victoria, B.C. from 2002 to 2020. Between November 2018 and March of 2020, he engaged in personal financial dealings with his clients. He was terminated by Sun Life in 2020 for this conduct.
These personal financial dealings included taking a $100,000 loan from one client. As collateral for the deal, Polischuk gave his client the right to 25% of the revenue stream from his book of business, which was valued at $249,000. The initial loan was not repaid by the agreed upon date. Polischuk’s client subsequently filed a civil claim against him. Polischuk claims that he has paid his former client $2,500 per month since June of 2021 to pay down that loan.
In December of 2019 Polischuk requested another $25,000 loan from a client aged approximately 74, who was a friend of Polischuk’s father according to the decisions and reasons. The loan was not repaid by the agreed upon repayment date in January of 2020. Instead, Polischuk requested another $15,000 loan from the same client, who declined the request. The loan was repaid with interest on February 25, 2020.
In February of 2020 Polischuk requested another loan from a different client, in the amount of $30,000, telling his client he would be repaid by March 20th, 2020. As of February 1, 2023 the loan still had an outstanding balance of $5,000. Polischuk has been making $500 monthly payments to his former client to repay the loan.
When one of the clients complained to Sun Life about their loan and subsequent lack of repayment, the member firm conducted an investigation. At the time Polischuk claimed he only had a loan agreement with one client, despite having loans from two others at the time.
As a result of his misconduct Polischuk has been ordered to pay a fine of $75,000 as well as costs of $10,000 — which will not be payable until May 15, 2025 due to his ongoing repayment of loans from his former clients. Polischuk has also been permanently prohibited from conducting securities related business.
