The client later asked Rivet about suspicious withdrawals he’d seen from his chequing account. To conceal the unauthorized transactions, Rivet created a fictitious letter purported to be from “CIBC Security, Inc.”, falsely claiming that all transactions from the client’s’ accounts had been verified and approved, and the client had suffered no losses due to unauthorized transactions.
In December 2017, Rivet also recommended a registered retirement income fund (RRIF) meltdown strategy to the client, saying that it would help him avoid a high tax liability on his RRIF upon his death.
In order to withdraw $30,000 from the client’s account, Rivet had the client sign a Personal Portfolio Services Account Change form, which the compliance department rejected as it should have been submitted 15 days in advance of the prospective withdrawal date.
Without telling the client, Rivet completed another form on December 18, 2017, to withdraw $20,000 from the client’s RRIF on December 20, which he said were to be transferred to the client’s chequing account; he purported to rely upon a limited trade authorization the client had signed authorizing the acceptance of verbal instructions rather than a signed account form. On January 4, 2018, he completed another form unbeknownst to the client to withdraw a further $25,000 from the RRIF, again relying upon the LTA.
As a result of the withdrawals, the client incurred a tax liability of approximately $5,000.
