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by Mike Caswell

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization has found former PI Financial Corp. vice-chairman Donald Metcalfe liable for helping with a $172-million loan fraud run by former PI owner Gary Ng. CIRO has determined that Mr. Metcalfe committed "continuous egregious breaches" of the rules. In particular, he sent doctored account documents to lenders, with those documents purporting to show Mr. Ng as the owner of accounts worth tens of millions of dollars.

The findings are contained in a decision that CIRO released on Wednesday, Dec. 20. The case stems in part from loans that Mr. Ng took out when he purchased PI Financial in November, 2018. Mr. Ng paid for the purchase entirely with borrowed money, with one of the lenders making an $80-million advance. The loans were initially secured by accounts at Chippingham Financial Group Ltd., a Winnipeg firm that Mr. Ng owned, and later by accounts at PI.

The problem, at least according to CIRO, was that the documentation for those accounts was entirely fraudulent. Mr. Ng had altered account statements to make it appear that he held assets worth tens of millions of dollars, CIRO said. He did so by inserting his name in place of a client's name.

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