Former B.C. rep who disappeared receives ban, $2.7M fine

A former mutual fund rep has been permanently banned and fined $2.7 million for misconduct including fraud and failing to repay money he solicited for fictitious mutual funds, the MFDA said Monday.

Harold Magnus Backer, a former Olympic rower whose 2015 disappearance led investigators to look into his business, received a 13-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to fraud last month.

He was registered with Cartier Partners Financial Services Inc. and its successor, Dundee Private Investors, in Ontario and in B.C. from 2001 to 2005, and with Investia Financial Services Inc. from 2005 to 2015, says the MFDA’s notice of hearing.

The MFDA found that Backer created a fictitious prospectus and family of mutual funds for his company, My Financial Backer Corporation, in 1999. The prospectus was never filed with a securities regulator or exchange, the notice of hearing says.

Backer failed to repay or account for more than $700,000 he solicited from at least seven investors for a fictitious mutual fund, the MFDA release said. He “fraudulently induced” at least 13 investors to invest in non-existent funds, it said.

In addition to the fine, Backer has been ordered to pay costs in the amount of $17,875 and is permanently prohibited from conducting any securities-related business. The amount of the fine will be reduced by amounts Backer repays to his victims as part of a court-issued restitution order, says the release.

Disappearance in 2015

Backer disappeared on Nov. 3, 2015, when he failed to return home after telling his family he was going out for a bike ride.

Soon after he disappeared, financial crime investigators began looking into Backer and the company My Financial Backer Corp. after his investors received letters that concerned them.

The investment dealer surrendered to police in April 2017 and his whereabouts before that period of time haven’t been explained.

Backer pleaded guilty to a single charge of fraud over $5,000 on July 4 and received a 13-month jail sentence.

Read the amended notice of hearing here.

Read: Former advisor, Olympian who disappeared in 2015 pleads guilty to fraud

Staff, with files from The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.