A financial planner who tried to take advantage of a vulnerable client to buy out her home at a fraction of the price while working for Investors Group has just been terminated for five years.
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The Disciplinary Committee of the Chamber of Financial Security (CSF) ordered the temporary expulsion of Joanne Iacono, found guilty of all the counts of offense contained in two disciplinary complaints brought against her.
He is accused in particular of having offered $650,000 to a client to buy her house in Montreal West. The house was worth more than $900,000, which Iacono knew full well, and the elderly client had just lost her husband and was “completely overwhelmed and depressed” at the time, according to the proceedings.
To lower the price by $250,000, the former Investors advisor asked her client to sign an addendum to the purchase offer specifying that she was covering renovation costs.
In addition, the bank financing the transaction for Iacono was not informed of the adviser’s intentions.
The former Investors Group employee also had a false lease prepared to lead the bank to believe that she intended to rent her house and move.
Rather, she intended to resell the house immediately after purchase in order to make a profit, since properties were selling for between $1.1 million and $1.4 million on the same street at the time.
For all these reasons, the CSF Disciplinary Committee will prevent Joanne Iacono from practicing her profession for the next 5 years.
The decision fell on August 19 and the radiation will come into force at the end of the appeal period.
-With the collaboration of Jean-François Cloutier