A Bank of Montreal financial planner allegedly embezzled more than $180,000 from seven elderly clients to indulge his passion for gambling and pay off personal debts.

Jérémie Paquet, a BMO planner in the Quebec region, allegedly set up a complex fraudulent scheme that included transfers between accounts in different institutions to thwart the bank's controls.

He was suspended in mid-May before being fired ten days later by his employer.

Paquet is the third financial planner who allegedly cheated clients, reported by our Bureau of Investigation in recent months (see below).

The young man is said to have systematically targeted elderly people by making unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts by means of checks or bank drafts payable to his name.

Game problems

That's what a BMO investigator discovered after a bank draft that Paquet was trying to cash caught the attention of an employee.

"The defendant still struggling with his gambling problems and having used fraudulent schemes to appease his pathology, it is to be feared that he will use the funds still available in his bank account", indicates the investigator in a affidavit.

Worried that other funds would be squandered, the bank went to court for a restraint order on Paquet's assets. Superior Court Judge Nicole Tremblay authorized the seizure before judgment at the end of May.

His house located in Château-Richer, in the suburbs of Quebec, is particularly targeted, as are his bank accounts and securities.

$245,000 to compensate

"In light of the assessment provided by the defendant himself, the plaintiff anticipates that it will have to pay a sum of $245,000 [...] in order to compensate its customers", alleges the bank's investigator in the submitted document.

The bank says it still hasn't completed its investigation. She says she bases her estimate on the sum of more than $180,000 that Paquet has already admitted to having embezzled.

The bank's investigator speaks of "acts of a fraudulent nature" committed by the employee.

Paquet would have confessed when confronted by the bank, and he would have admitted to his gambling problem, which he had never spoken about before.

According to information gathered by the bank, Jérémie Paquet would have used a credit card in the name of his spouse to play. However, the latter was unaware of the existence of this card in her name.

The BMO investigator points out that Paquet used the embezzled money to pay personal debts, including expenses related to his residence.

He would even have used a subterfuge to imitate the signature of colleagues with a carbon copy made on a bank draft in due form.

BMO has already begun to reimburse customers whose funds were allegedly misappropriated.

Jérémie Paquet is not the only financial planner who allegedly misled his clients to have made headlines in recent months.