THUNDER BAY - The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has announced its decision following a disciplinary hearing for a former Thunder Bay investment advisor.
Following a hearing that was held in July, IIROC has found that Vance Virgil Hoshizaki engaged in undisclosed outside business activities and personal financial dealings with clients, and took money clients entrusted to him for investment purposes and used it personally.
IIROC is the national self-regulatory organization which oversees all investment dealers and trading activity in debt and equity marketplaces in Canada.
In a decision issued in late August, it said that between 2002 and 2013, Hoshizaki collected a total of about $536,000 from multiple clients to invest in private businesses. Those investments were not recorded on the books of his Dealer Member firm.
The hearing panel also found that Hoshizaki's outside business activity and personal financial dealings with clients were undertaken without the consent of his firm.
According to IIROC, Hoshizaki has neither returned nor accounted for the money that was entrusted to him by clients.
It said the violations of its Dealer Member rules occurred while he was a registered representative with the Thunder Bay branch of Assante Capital Management Limited.
He was terminated for cause by Assante in June, 2013, and Hoshizaki is no longer a registrant with any IIROC-regulated firm.
IIROC will hold another hearing in October to determine the penalty it will impose on him.
