Former investment banker agrees to pay $800K for improper trades in Canada, U.S.

TORONTO – A former Toronto investment banker has agreed to pay more than $800,000 to Canadian and U.S. securities regulators to settle allegations of insider trading while he worked at CIBC and UBS Securities Canada.

Richard Bruce Moore will also be prohibited from trading securities or acting as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years. He has also been banned from being a registrant, or an officer or director of a registrant, for 15 years.

The Ontario Securities Commission said Tuesday the settlement is related to the period when Moore was a managing director of investment banking at CIBC (TSX:CM) in 2010 and at UBS in 2012.

It’s alleged that, in 2010, Moore used two offshore accounts in the Channel island of Jersey to purchase 212,000 shares of Tomkins plc after learning that it was likely the target of an impending acquisition by the CPP Investment Board. The brokerage accountswere not disclosed to CIBC, even though he was legally mandated to do so.

In 2012, Moore inadvertently received an email that his client, Birch Hill Equity Partners, planned a takeover bid of HomeQ Corporation. Using that knowledge, the OSC said Moore purchased 30,600 shares of HomeQ for $244,524.05.

His profit from both the trades totalled more than $318,000.

Moore has agreed to pay $325,000 plus $75,000 in costs to the OSC for the Tomkins’ case. He will also pay $340,000 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In relation to the HomeQ trades, Moore has agreed to a settlement of $43,268.94 and an administrative penalty of $86,000 to the OSC.