Bob Mackin
A Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) hearing panel accepted a settlement with a former investment dealer who embezzled almost $6 million from clients, some of whom were elderly and in poor health.
Michael Rowland Tomkins of Nanaimo “committed serious transgressions, involving large sums of money. He engaged in an ongoing pattern of intentional deception. This was far from an isolated lapse in judgment,” said the April 29 decision by the CIRO panel, chaired by lawyer Lynn Smith.
Downtown Nanaimo (City of Nanaimo/Facebook)
From 2007 to 2023, Tomkins misappropriated approximately $5.99 million from five clients. He returned about $1.7 million to the clients, but $4.3 million remains outstanding.
Between February 2019 and July 2023, he pilfered almost $1.69 million from two of the five clients — “who were elderly and vulnerable, with noted health concerns” — and returned $418,000 to one of those clients.
“He was able to misappropriate the funds by deceiving both the clients and his employer,” said the CIRO decision. “He did this by providing fabricated or inaccurate information to both the clients and his employer, including fabricating investment vehicles, fabricating investment portfolio summary reports, and fabricating client transactions.”
Tomkins worked in the industry since the 1980s as a mutual fund salesman and joined Assante Financial Management Ltd. in 2001. In 2018, he was a registered representative for the company in Nanaimo.
When the misappropriations were revealed in October 2023, Tomkins quit Assante and formally admitted in November 2023 that he misappropriated funds from clients.
Tomkins had no prior disciplinary history with CIRO, he accepted responsibility and expressed deep remorse at a hearing.
In the settlement, Tomkins agreed to a permanent ban from CIRO and employment in any capacity by a regulated person, a $1 million fine, disgorgement of $1.27 million and payment of $10,000 costs. He agreed to pay the amounts within 30 days of acceptance of the settlement.
Investigations by Assante are underway. Funds were paid back to four of five clients and one of them has sued Tomkins and the company.
Former clients sue
In B.C. Supreme Court filings obtained by theBreaker.news, a Nanaimo couple accused Tomkins and his wife Karla of breach of trust and fraud and alleged conversion of their retirement funds into Vancouver Island residential, recreation and office real estate.
In a January 2024 notice of civil claim, husband and wife Daniel and Brenda Juss and their company, Molecey Pacific Ltd., say they trusted Michael Tomkins as a friend and advisor between 1998 and 2023 when they provided him $4.2 million to invest on their behalf.
They even trusted Tomkins to handle their investments without significant oversight for six years after Daniel Juss suffered a 2007 stroke and subsequent cancer diagnosis.
The allegations have yet to be tested in court.
Karla Ann Tomkins, aka Karla Ann Taylor, and Hammond Bay Investments Ltd. responded in February 2024 to deny the allegations.
Assante Capital Management Ltd. and Assante Financial Management Ltd. filed its response in January 2025. Assante said it met all regulatory and legal obligations concerning supervision of Tomkins and that the plaintiffs’ accounts were operated “in a manner commensurate with their investment knowledge, experience, income, net worth, risk tolerance and objectives.”
But, Assante said it had no knowledge of the acts of fraud described in the lawsuit.
“ACM and AFM discovered Mr. Tomkins’ acts of fraud on Oct. 18, 2023 when Mr. Tomkins abruptly resigned as a dealing representative and admitted to his acts of fraud and misappropriation,” said the Assante filing.
Assante distanced itself from Tomkins, claiming that acts of fraud involving the plaintiffs’ funds “relate to private off-the book investments that the plaintiffs made with Tomkins.”
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