A former registered representative and head of sales and trading with Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc. has been banned for six months and fined $75,000 for disclosing potentially confidential information with a hedge fund client.
A Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization hearing panel earlier this month determined that Robert Russell Weir’s conduct was contrary to investment dealer rules when he shared information about proposed block trade transactions involving two publicly listed issuers.
The hedge fund client he told the information to was able to use these insights in short sales to yield potential profits of $118,945 for one transaction and $258,561 for the other. Weir did not know that these short sales were taking place.
