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by Mike Caswell

The B.C. Securities Commission has permanently banned former CIBC Securities Inc. employee Hope Thomas, who misappropriated $157,000 from a relative and blamed a drug addiction. The BCSC says that Ms. Thomas used a fake bank account to take money from the mutual fund account of a 79-year-old relative who was also a client. Ms. Thomas then obtained bank loans and a line of credit in her relative's name.

The ban for Ms. Thomas is contained in an administrative order that the BCSC released on Tuesday, March 4. The regulator has barred her from trading, serving as an officer or director, and working in a management or consulting role in connection with the markets. She is also barred from promotional activities. Ms. Thomas is allowed to trade in limited circumstances, providing it is done through a registered representative who has received a copy of Tuesday's order.

The ban arises from a TFSA (or tax-free savings account) that Ms. Thomas's relative, reported to be either her mother-in-law or grandmother-in-law, opened at CIBC in Merritt, where Ms. Thomas was a manager. In order to take money from the TFSA, Ms. Thomas opened a fake bank account in the relative's name and used that bank account to steadily transfer money out. Ms. Thomas also obtained loans and a line of credit in the relative's name that allowed her to receive $59,000.

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