An advisor's divorce collided with $9.1M in client accounts he once managed
A BC court called it "troubling" that a CIBC Wood Gundy advisor used his firm email to prompt the freezing of $9.1 million in client accounts.
In a decision filed March 18, 2026, Justice Kirchner of the BC Supreme Court waded through a tangle of civil claims that grew out of a bitter divorce between investment advisor Joseph Tung and his wife, Nancy Lu. What started as a family dispute over property and support had ballooned into a multi-party legal battle involving Joseph's father and fellow CIBC Wood Gundy advisor Hans Tung, Nancy's father Anshan Lu, and three CIBC entities.
At the centre of it all sat two investment accounts worth approximately $9.1 million. Anshan, a medical doctor who claimed to have built a successful practice in China, opened the accounts at CIBC Wood Gundy in 2020. They were managed by Hans's group, with Nancy — who also worked in the group — given primary responsibility over them. The accounts were set up jointly in Anshan and Nancy's names, which Anshan said was on Hans's advice for convenience, estate-planning, and tax purposes.
After the couple separated in June 2023, Anshan moved management of the accounts to another senior CIBC advisor. Joseph then filed a family law claim on March 28, 2024, asserting the accounts were family property, and obtained a restraining order — the Krentz Order — that specifically named them.
Things escalated in September 2024 when Anshan and Nancy co-signed a direction to transfer the accounts into Anshan's sole name. The court later found this move by Nancy contravened the Krentz Order. On October 3, 2024, Joseph emailed the assistant branch manager at his CIBC branch from his work account, copying Hans, and asked her to pay "special attention" to accounts subject to the order. CIBC froze the accounts shortly after.
Justice Kirchner did not mince words about the email. Joseph, the court noted, "appears to have been using his position and possibly his influence within CIBC to advance his personal interests in the family claim." The suggestion that he may have accessed account information through his role at CIBC was called "neither speculative nor far-fetched." Hans's silence on why he was copied on the email was described as "concerning." Yet despite those pointed observations, every civil claim was either struck or dismissed. The court confirmed that an advisor-client relationship does not automatically create a fiduciary duty — it only arises when a client reposes trust and confidence in the broker and relies on the broker's advice in making business decisions. Anshan's conspiracy and breach of contract claims cleared the strike application but were dismissed on summary trial. The court determined it was Nancy's breach of the restraining order, not any alleged conspiracy, that triggered the account freeze. CIBC's decision to freeze the accounts was found to be reasonable.
All three CIBC entities were removed from the proceeding. Costs were awarded to Hans, Joseph in his capacity as a CIBC employee, and CIBC, with Nancy and Anshan jointly and severally liable, payable in any event of the cause.
