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by Mike Caswell

Ventum Financial Corp. has agreed to pay $2.3-million to settle a case brought by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization over the firm's sale of $105-million worth of shares in dodgy U.S. over-the-counter listings. CIRO said that Ventum traded the stock amidst "questionable promotional activities" by sellers who were operating through offshore entities. According to CIRO, Ventum failed to follow its own policies and procedures regarding suspicious transactions.

The penalties for Ventum are contained in a settlement agreement that CIRO released on Wednesday, July 2. The $2.3-million comprises disgorgement of $1.7-million, a $500,000 fine and $100,000 in CIRO's costs. In addition, a former Ventum employee, Stephen Burns, has agreed to pay $125,000 and to serve a six-month suspension.

The penalties arise from what CIRO describes as "numerous compliance, supervision and gatekeeping failures" at a Ventum predecessor from 2018 to 2022. The violations occurred at Echelon Wealth Partners Inc., which has since merged with PI Financial Corp. to become Ventum. The matter centres around four accounts that Mr. Burns opened starting in July, 2018, with the largest belonging to Valor Capital Ltd., a broker-dealer registered in the Cayman Islands.

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