Order

WHEREAS on May 23, 2018, the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (the “MFDA”) issued a Notice of Hearing pursuant to sections 20 and 24 of By-law No. 1 in respect of a disciplinary proceeding commenced against Neil Kumar (the “Respondent”);

AND WHEREAS on August 14, 2018, the first appearance in this proceeding was held by teleconference before one public representative of a Regional Council acting on behalf of a hearing panel of the Central Regional Council of the MFDA (the “Hearing Panel”), pursuant to section 19.13(b) of MFDA By-law No. 1;

AND WHEREAS the Respondent did not attend the first appearance, although properly served with the Notice of Hearing as appears from the affidavits of Sofi Vasiliadis and Achilles Nardelli;

AND WHEREAS the Respondent did not serve or file a Reply to the Notice of Hearing;

AND WHEREAS at the first appearance, the Hearing Panel ordered that the hearing on the merits shall take place on February 7, 2019;

AND WHEREAS on February 7, 2019, the Respondent requested an adjournment of the hearing on the merits, which was opposed by Staff of the MFDA;

AND WHEREAS the Hearing Panel granted the adjournment and ordered that an additional appearance take place by teleconference on February 7, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. (Eastern);

AND WHEREAS the Respondent and counsel for Staff of the MFDA attended the additional appearance by teleconference and made submissions to the Hearing Panel with respect to scheduling and other procedural matters;

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

1. The Respondent is required to serve and file a Reply to the Notice of Hearing on or before February 14, 2019;
2. The Respondent is required to provide his current residential address to Staff on or before February 14, 2019;
3. The Respondent is required to immediately advise Staff if his residential address changes, and is required to immediately provide his new residential address to Staff;
4. The hearing of this matter on its merits shall take place before the Hearing Panel in the hearing room located at 121 King Street West, Suite 1000, Toronto, Ontario on March 18 and 19, 2019, commencing daily at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern);
5. The hearing dates in paragraph 4 are peremptory;
6. Staff is not required to provide any evidence at the hearing on the merits other than the affidavit of John Gallimore, which was previously filed by Staff, and is not required to call any witnesses at the hearing on the merits, unless the Hearing Panel requests that Staff provide additional evidence;
7. Notwithstanding paragraph 6, Staff reserves the right to provide evidence other than the affidavit of John Gallimore, and reserves the right to call witnesses in this proceeding; and
8. If at any time a non-party to this proceeding, with the exception of the bodies set out in section 23 of MFDA By-law No. 1, requests production of or access to exhibits in this proceeding that contain personal information as defined by the MFDA Privacy Policy, then the MFDA Corporate Secretary shall not provide copies of or access to the requested exhibits to the non-party without first redacting from them any and all personal information, pursuant to Rules 1.8(2) and (5) of the MFDA Rules of Procedure.