The British Columbia Securities Commission says a Burnaby insurance agent and a marketing director for his company encouraged an investor to lie to regulators in order to get his money back.
Hunter Wei-Shun Wang and Jing "Janet" Zhang are scheduled to appear at the commission's downtown Vancouver office on Nov. 20 to respond to the BCSC's allegations against them.
Those allegations stem from an incident that occurred in March 2014, when Wang was a licensed insurance salesman and Zhang was the marketing director for the company he worked for, which is not named in the BCSC's allegations.
The commission alleges that Wang and Zhang convinced a man to make a $25,000 investment in the insurance company that employed them. The man did so, but then regretted the decision and wanted his money back, according to the BCSC.
The investor's mother made a complaint to the commission, which Wang and Zhang learned about. When they found out about this complaint, the commission alleges, they offered to refund the investor's money, but only if he lied to BCSC staff by saying his mother was confused and thinking about a different investment.
Wang and Zhang coached the investor on the false information he was supposed to give to BCSC staff, and listened in while he called the commission to deliver it, according to the commission.
Once that had happened, the investor and his mother met with Zhang at a branch of her personal bank, where she withdrew $25,000 and gave it to the investor to refund his payment, the BCSC said. The insurance company later reimbursed Zhang for making the payment, the commission said.
The BCSC is asking an administrative panel to find that Wang and Zhang's actions constituted either obstruction of justice or abuse of capital markets.
