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by Mike Caswell

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization has permanently banned former Quadrus Investment Services Inc. employee Louis Josh Lieff over his part in a used car loan scheme that inflicted $9.8-million in losses on investors. CIRO has found that Mr. Lieff was a dupe in a larger fraud run by a man who has since pleaded guilty to criminal charges. Mr. Lieff, who realized $670,468 in commissions from the investments, failed to make required disclosures to his employer, which may have prevented the scheme, CIRO said.

The penalties for Mr. Lieff are contained in a decision that CIRO released on Friday, Jan. 9. In addition to the permanent ban, CIRO has ordered Mr. Lieff to disgorge $238,073 and has ordered him to pay a $200,000 fine. On top of that, he must pay $15,000 in CIRO's costs.

The ban for Mr. Lieff stems from a car loan scheme that began in October, 2020. According to CIRO, Mr. Lieff was introduced to a person named Mark Cohen (only identified by CIRO as "MC"), who was the brother of one of his friends. Mr. Cohen claimed that he could acquire used vehicles at a discount from rental companies. Mr. Cohen was seeking short-term loans to buy the vehicles, which he would repay with a promised rate of return once he resold the vehicles.

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