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Barry Critchley
Friday, July 04, 2008
Clients of Ian Thow, the former
advisor at Berkshire Investment
Group charged by Vancouver
Integrated Market Enforcement Team (IMET)
last week with 25 counts of fraud,
are less than happy with the
treatment they received.
"The issue will not go away, despite
efforts of the financial industry,"
said one client, noting some former
Thow clients have gained "some
recovery of funds from Berkshire and
are now seeing charges proceed."
But this client, who responded to a
recent column on charges being laid
against Thow, was upset at the
language used when IMET announced
the fraud charges. "Many of Thow's
victims also made complaints to the
RCMP and did so months before
Berkshire even would admit he was an
employee. [The IMET] statement makes
it appear that Berkshire was the
moving force behind charging Thow,
when in fact, for months Berkshire
distanced themselves and denied it
was their problem," the client said.
"Please don't let your readers
forget the impact on and the work
done by many of Thow's victims to
get to this stage of charging Thow."
The Mutual Fund Dealers Association
of Canada imposed a $500,000 fine
against Berkshire. The agreement
concerned Berkshire's failure to
conduct reasonable supervisory
investigations between September,
2004, and June, 2005, "in response
to reports it received concerning
the activities of ... Thow.
Thow persuaded numerous individuals,
including clients of Berkshire, to
provide him with money that he
promised to invest on their behalf
but instead used for his personal
benefit," the MFDA said.
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