VSE: Nunes, Former
Approved Person, Disciplined
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Notice to Members #54/99
By way of an Offer of Settlement, Wendell Anthony Nunes
("Nunes"), at the time of the infractions an Approved Person employed by
C.M.Oliver & Company Ltd ("C.M.Oliver") has agreed to the imposition of the
following penalties by the Exchange for violation of Exchange By-Law 5.01(2) and Rule
F.3.02:
- payment of a fine in the amount of $50,000;
- disgorgement of inappropriate commissions in the amount of $20,000;
- withdrawal of Exchange Approval for a period of 8 years, and
- an assessment of investigative costs in the amount of $1,500.
By-Law 5.01(2) states in part, that an infraction means any conduct,
proceeding or method of business which is unbecoming or inconsistent with just and
equitable principles of trade or detrimental to the interests of the Exchange or the
public.
Rule F.3.02 states in part, that no investment adviser of a Member
shall exercise any discretionary power with respect to a clients account unless the
client has given prior written authorization and the account has been accepted as a
discretionary account by the Member.
Conduct Unbecoming
Between January 1997 and June 1998, (the "Relevant Period")
Nunes forwarded false and misleading monthly account summaries to a client (the
"Client").
On January 7, 1997, the Client opened a margin long account, a margin
short account and an options account (the "Accounts") with Nunes. The Client
requested in writing that the monthly account statements and contracts for the Accounts be
held at C.M. Oliver.
The Client had an agreement that Nunes would place all the orders for
the Accounts and inform the Client as to the status of the Accounts by providing
simplified monthly account summaries (the "Account Summaries"). The Account
Summaries listed only the percentage of gains or losses, and the commissions charged.
During the Relevant Period, on seventeen consecutive Account Summaries,
Nunes misrepresented to the Client the total equity, the individual securities value and
the commissions charged. Nunes reported to the Client the total commissions charged during
the Relevant Period as $21,542US, while the actual commissions charged was $83,825US thus
understating the actual commissions by $62,283US. Nunes further overstated the Accounts
equity position. The Account Summary for March 1998 indicated the equity was $277,289US,
while the actual Accounts equity was $102,518US, overstating the equity by $174,771US.
Nunes thereby violated Exchange By-Law 5.01(2).
Discretionary Trading
During the Relevant Period, Nunes exercised discretion in the Accounts,
executing approximately 425 discretionary trades in securities listed on the Toronto Stock
Exchange, the Vancouver Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Nasdaq Stock
Market. The Client provided verbal authorization for Nunes to exercise discretion over the
Accounts, however the Client had not provided written authorization for Nunes to exercise
discretion over the Accounts and CM Oliver had not accepted the Accounts as discretionary.
Nunes thereby violated Exchange Rule F.3.02.
No fault was attributed to the Member Firm who reported Nunes
conduct and terminated his employment.
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