TORONTO -- Former hospital clerk Shaida Bandali has been sentenced to two years' probation, 300 hours of community service and $45,000 in penalties for handing over the personal information of new mothers to investment dealers peddling education savings plans.
Bandali pleaded guilty in August to one count of unregistered trading. On top of a $36,000 fine, Bandali must pay a $9,000 victim surcharge that goes toward a provincial fund that assists the victims of crime.
The Ontario Securities Commission alleged that she breached the confidentiality policies of her employer, the Rouge Valley Hospital group, to access the personal data of maternity patients and distribute it to one or more people selling Registered Education Savings Plans.
The OSC said Bandali created investor lists by using her unauthorized access to get patient information and selling those lists to RESP agents for cash.
Ontario Superior Court Judge Kathleen Caldwell said the fine reflected the seriousness of Bandali's breach of trust.
"All of the victims had recently given birth and were thus, by definition, at a very stressful and vulnerable, albeit joyous, time in their lives," Caldwell said in her decision.
