Previous clean record tarnished by carrying out misconduct under direction
A former investment representative of RBC Dominion Securities in Ontario has been banned by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization for misconduct that was directed by another.
CIRO’s hearing panel held a settlement hearing on December 6, 2024, and has now published the reasons for its decision relating to an investigation into the conduct of Sinziana Vornicu who had been with the firm from September 2014 to December 2022 but in the industry since 2011. RBC DS terminated her employment when the misconduct was known.
The regulator found that between May 2022 and October 2022 Vornicu reported inflated portfolio values and falsified account details for two clients. The discrepancies ranged from $1.1 to $7.4 million.
However, CIRO’s Settlement Agreement reveals that, while Vornicu had emailed the clients with the falsified information, this was at the direction of Andrew Munro, one of the firm’s registered representatives, who she worked for exclusively as an associate. Having initially hesitated about carrying out the direction, she ultimately complied.
CIRO states that Munro had “initiated a scheme” for provide two of his high-net-worth clients with false portfolio values due to their dissatisfaction with their investment returns. This included directing Vornicu to review false values to ensure they were not repeated when new updates were sent.
Munro and Vornicu typically communicated by a form of text messaging which had not been approved by the Dealer Member.
CIRO’s hearing panel determined that although Vornicu’s misconduct continued for an extended period of time, she had expressed remorse and had no history of regulatory misconduct. She believed her job would be at risk if she did not comply with Munro’s directions – and had ultimately lost her job.
Vornicu was fined $25,000 and ordered to pay $5,000 costs. She is also prohibited on registration approval with CIRO in any capacity for 12 months and will then face close supervision for 12 months if she does register with the regulator in any capacity, which would only be an option once she completed the Conduct and Practices Handbook Course prior to re-registration.
