Decision details payments tied to a home purchase and client accounts
Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) permanently banned former registrant Omer Naek after finding he misappropriated client funds from three accounts, including elderly clients and one client who was already deceased, according to CIRO’s sanctions decision.
A CIRO hearing panel said Naek carried out unauthorized transfers and misappropriations between May 2020 and August 2021, involving approximately $204,000 (CAD) and $15,000 (USD). The panel said the affected clients were either vulnerable elderly individuals or deceased at the time the transfers occurred.
In one case involving a client identified as TDT, CIRO alleged that Naek opened a bank account in the client’s name on or about May 29, 2020, more than two months after the client died on March 6, 2020, according to CIRO’s Notice of Hearing and Statement of Allegations dated January 23, 2025.
Between May 29 and June 22, 2020, CIRO alleged three transfers totaling $60,000 (CAD) were routed from TDT’s bank account through the client’s TD Waterhouse brokerage account and then into the bank account opened in the client’s name. Those transfers were listed at $10,000 on May 29, $20,000 on June 16, and $30,000 on June 22.
The sanctions decision said Naek withdrew $5,000 (CAD) from that bank account and $5,000 (USD) from TDT’s U.S.-dollar account on or about June 29, 2020. The panel also described a bank draft for $20,000 (CAD) dated on or about July 14, 2020, payable to a construction contractor from whom Naek and his spouse were purchasing a home.
The panel also cited misconduct affecting clients identified as GV and JL, a married couple born in 1929 and 1923, respectively. GV died on September 11, 2020. CIRO alleged GV gave Naek two signed blank cheques intended for transfers, but the cheques were used to pay $55,000 (CAD) to the same contractor on or about August 25, 2020, according to the Notice of Hearing and Statement of Allegations. The sanctions decision cited further unauthorized transfers between August 28, 2020, and August 30, 2021, totaling $125,000 (CAD) and $10,000 (USD).
Following a prehearing conference held August 12, 2025, CIRO held a sanction hearing on November 17, 2025. In its decision issued December 19, 2025, the panel imposed a $100,000 fine, ordered $59,153 in disgorgement and $5,000 in costs, and issued a permanent prohibition from registration with CIRO.
The conduct occurred while Naek was registered with TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. in the Dollard-des-Ormeaux area in Québec, CIRO said. The sanctions decision said Naek was registered with CIRO and its predecessor from September 2016 to November 2021 and has not been employed by, or registered with, a CIRO member since November 2021.
