The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced recently announced that it has awarded $240,000 to joint whistleblowers for a tip that originated from outside of Canada. According to the OSC, the whistleblower tip contained “detailed independent analysis upfront with specific, timely and credible information, as well as relevant supporting records.” The OSC also emphasized that the misconduct put substantial investor funds at risk and would have been challenging to uncover without the whistleblower’s tip. Financial rewards are only paid to whistleblowers for concluded cases where the sanctions exceed $1 million.
This award was made under the OSC’s Whistleblower Policy (Policy) which we discussed in previous articles here and here. Under the Policy, eligible whistleblowers may be awarded up to $5 million for reporting serious securities-related misconduct that leads to significant enforcement or settlement outcomes.
The OSC announcement did not disclose what enforcement proceeding the whistleblowers provided the OSC assistance with. Awards are paid after cases are concluded and all rights to appeal have expired. Under the Policy, the OSC makes all reasonable efforts to ensure whistleblower confidentiality so the identity of the whistleblowers, what each whistleblower received, and the related enforcement proceeding were not disclosed.
Takeaways
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