Jun 16, 2016
By Michael Kramer
July 14th is the launch date for the whistleblower program of Ontario’s Securities overseer – which will pay up to $5 million for insider information about accounting fraud, insider trading and market manipulation.
The Ontario Securities Commission’s whistleblower project is the first in Canada to pay for tips – and will include protections for those who come forward – in the form of anti-retaliation measures and complete confidentiality.
The original plan was to cap payments to tipsters at $1.5 million.
But the upper limits were increased after experts suggested the original amount wasn’t enough to compensate senior executives – who risk losing well-paying jobs – and being blacklisted from their industries.
Payouts would still be capped at $1.5 million if the OSC is unable to collect at least $10 million in sanctions related to the case. Then, the whistleblower would receive between five and 15 per cent of the sanctions collected – up to a maximum of $5 million.
U.S. whistleblowers can receive a 10 to 30 per cent payout, with no cap on the total payment amount – but only if the securities regulator is able to collect the money that it’s owed.
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