Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

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Gary Ng, who garnered national attention in 2018 with the surprise purchase of PI Financial Corp., has been accused of committing fraud to execute that deal.

According to a statement of allegations released by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) late Tuesday, Ng made numerous false representations between November 2018 and January 2020 to borrow a total of $172 million, including $100 million used to finance the purchase of PI.

IIROC alleged Ng, who earlier co-founded Winnipeg-based Chippingham Financial Group Ltd., misled his lenders by falsely claiming to have control over certain Chippingham accounts that were used as collateral.

Among other specific claims, the regulator accused Ng of "creating fictitious account statements, summaries and screen capture images to make it appear that he held millions of dollars in financial assets with Chippingham and PI Financial when in reality those accounts and the claimed assets did not exist."

IIROC said PI Financial flagged concerns over Ng's actions in January of this year and Ng later resigned from the firm in early February. He had been serving as chairman subsequent to the takeover.

Ng is also accused of failing to cooperate in IIROC's investigation after failing to present himself for an interview with enforcement staff in July.

The IIROC has also accused Donald Metcalfe – who served in senior roles alongside Ng at Chippingham and PI Financial – of "directly and actively" participating in the scheme.

None of the allegations have been proven and the regulator noted there's no evidence of clients suffering any losses as a result of the alleged transgressions.

An initial hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Jan. 6.