Former managing director at RBC Dominion Securities Andrew Rankin was today found guilty, in a Toronto court room, on 10 charges of tipping off a childhood friend to confidential transactions RBC was working on. He was found not guilty of 10 charges of illegal insider trading.

Sentencing before Judge Ramez Khawly will take place September 9.

On each count, Rankin faces a maximum penalty of two years in jail and $1 million in fines.

The Ontario court heard evidence that Rankin’s longtime friend Daniel Duic bought shares in 10 companies over a year and a half — all of which were clients of RBC Dominion Securities.

Rankin worked at RBC’s mergers and acquisitions department from 1999 to mid-2001, where he would hear about potential takeovers before the public.

In some instances during that period, Duic bought hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of obscure stocks that turned out to be takeover targets. Duic sold his holdings once the deal was made public and the stock rose.

The trades were masked under a great deal of secrecy involving six accounts and five offshore locations.

The net profit was in excess of $4 million.

Of the 10 stocks traded, Rankin was personally working on three of the deals.

Under a settlement reached with the Ontario Securities Commission last year, Duic is banned for life from trading securities.

Duic agreed to repay $1.9 million to the OSC for insider trading.

The companies he traded in included Canadian Pacific Ltd., Moffatt Communications Ltd., Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. and Irwin Toy Ltd.

Rankin was suspended without pay by RBC in April 2001, following an internal investigation. He was fired in June of that year.