A blog post in response to https://blogs.ubc.ca/ameeraladak/ ‘s post.

In Ameera’s blog post she touched upon several subjects: business ethics, The Securities Act, and what John Alexander Allen was charged with. You would think that in a society as just and democratic as Canada that charges of this aptitude would be dealt with accordingly, but that does not appear to be the case with Allen. Being charged with stealing over $14 million from his clients, Allen is only facing a fine of $1 million. How is this possible, and in what way is this justified?

The Securities Act is a loophole for Allen, and acts as a shield that prevents him from having to pay for any of the money that he illegally and immorally attained. Allen filed for bankruptcy but was lucky in the fact that he did not have to repay any of the illegal money and he also had legal aid. The fact that many of his clients had to file for bankruptcy is astonishing. They were completely robbed of their financial assets and it seems as if the government and legal system are protecting the man who caused all this harm while leaving the real victims out on the street. Allen completely threw ethics out the window and clearly his clients’ financial well-being was the last of his concern.

The fine that Allen was charged with seems minuscule to the act actually performed. Allen not only knowingly robbed his clients but he also forged documents under a company’s name. Surely the charge for both accounts should be greater than just a fine that does not even cover 10% of the damage done. The government should be able to intervene in such situations seeing as the amount involved in this is quite substantial. This is the part that I do not understand, why does the government not play a larger role in this? They have the power to actually help the clients who suffered a huge loss. Who is the government actually protecting? The victims of this situation or the “investment banker” backed by The Securities Act?

sources:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/40386-ex-banker-applies-legal-aid