Gambling is a quick and fun way to make money, but this financial advisor seemed to have taken it over the top. Alistair Malcolm Melville gambled twice and ended up losing more than he bargained for as he not only lost the money, but also his job.

Three rounds of bad

The investment advisor in question is from Canada and worked at the Assante Capital Management. He made news as he lost more than $2 million of client money and then tried to raise the amount back through gambling. However, luck was clearly not on his side as he lost further and ended up losing his job. He has been banned for life from Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). That’s more than three bad things one after the other for Mr. Melville.

 

Hailing from Hamilton in Ontario, Canada; he worked with Assante as a financial advisor. About 15 clients trusted him with their money and handed their funds to him for better investments. However, Mr. Melville lost up to $280,000 while trading in the Canadian as well as the US equity market.

 

To recover the losses, he began to withdraw small sums of money from client accounts with  online casino au purposes. However, he couldn’t make any money even through his wagers and he ended up losing millions more. To cover his tracks, he falsified withdrawal statements, but everything came out in the open once he could not return the money.

Implications of bad decisions

All decisions – good or bad – have implication and this case is no different. Other than losing his job and reputation, he has been fined more than $400,000. Assante has repaid lost money back to its clients who lost funds due to the actions of Mr Melville. The investors comprised mostly of seniors who had arranged the money for investments by redeeming mutual funds just on the advice of Mr. Melville. Though the money has been paid back to the clients, they will now have to go through a rigorous tax process.

 

There are also talks that Mr. Melville used some money for his personal use. However, it holds no significance now as what mattered was that he lost client money and tried to recover the same by unlawful means.