OSC revokes advisor’s registration over unregistered trading
That’s when things went off track, according to the Commission. While unregistered, he kept giving investment advice to overseas clients whose money sat with a Swiss bank, passing recommendations through a contact there and billing through his old firm. Closer to home, he advised and helped direct trades for former Canadian clients through a contact at a major dealer – all without the license the law requires.
He also had clients sign paperwork claiming that dealer would supervise his advisory work, even though, the Commission found, he knew the firm had never actually agreed to that. Later, when he applied to get registered again through Canada’s investment regulator, he told the reviewing officer he’d merely been in talks about a new role and hadn’t advised or been paid by old clients in the meantime – claims the Commission found the emails and invoices flatly contradicted.
Staikos also found he sat on records Staff asked for, documents that later turned up anyway through other channels.
Asked during the hearing why he kept emailing advice to former clients, he testified it was “primarily to assist them when they reached out to me,” adding that keeping the relationship alive was a secondary reason.
None of it moved the needle in his favour. Staikos noted he’d already been sanctioned once and still hadn’t shown he understood how serious this was, and turned down lighter options like added supervision conditions. Revocation, she concluded, was the only response that fit.
