Insurance workers who instructed client to lie to investigator obstructed justice, BCSC panel finds

VANCOUVER -- A panel of the British Columbia Securities Commission has concluded that a pair of insurance company employees obstructed justice by coaching an investor to lie to the commission's investigators.

The BCSC first made public its allegations against Jing "Janet" Zhang and Hunter Wei-Shun Wang in October.

The commission asked an administrative panel to consider the facts of the case and determine whether the pair committed obstruction of justice or abuse of capital markets.

The panel concluded that the March 2014 incident from which the allegations arose was, in fact, obstruction. Now, the panel will consider submissions from BCSC staff and the respondents before deciding what sanctions to impose.

According to the BCSC, Zhang and Wang initially convinced a man to invest $25,000 in an investment product being offered by FS Financial Strategies, Inc., where Zhang worked as marketing director and Wang was a lead strategist.

"The investor initially put in $25,000 on the premise that he would be guaranteed a 10 per cent return for three years, risk free," the BCSC said in a news release. "However, he asked for his money back a few days later, saying he regretted making the investment."

The investor's mother made a complaint to the commission, which Wang and Zhang learned about. The BCSC said in its release that Zhang told the investor “the refund would depend on how the investor and his mother handled the matter with the (BCSC).”

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.

"This fabrication was clearly an attempt to cause the investigator to stop pursuing investigation of the complaint," the BCSC panel wrote in its decision.

Once the call 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, adding that FS later reimbursed Zhang.

"The panel found that both Wang and Zhang concealed or withheld, or attempted to conceal or withhold, information reasonably required for an investigation under the Securities Act," the BCSC said in its release.