The Canadian Press

A former securities lawyer has pled guilty to a $9-million insider trading scheme, the police and Ontario securities regulator said Tuesday.

Stanko Grmovsek entered the plea related to his involvement after turning himself in to police on Monday.

In a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission, Grmovsek admitted to illegal insider trading and acting in a manner contrary to the public interest.

In addition to being ordered to disgorge the illegal proceeds, Grmovsek has been banned from buying or selling securities and becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer or registrant.

RCMP and staff at the provincial regulator alleged Grmovsek engaged in fraud by trading on inside information between 1994 and 1999 and engaged in prohibited insider trading between 2004 and 2008.

The investigators also alleged that Grmovsek laundered the profits derived from fraud and illegal insider trading between 1994 and 2008.

Grmovsek also pled guilty in a U.S. federal court in Manhattan to conspiracy to commit securities fraud in a deal suggesting a sentence of between three and four years in prison.

The plea came a day after Grmovsek’s longtime friend, Gil Cornblum, was found dead in Toronto.

In a statement of allegations filed by the Ontario Securities Commission, Cornblum and Grmovsek met while in law school and remained close.

The regulator alleged Cornblum sought out and acquired information about potential corporate transactions through his role as an articling student or as a lawyer and tipped Grmovsek who made the trades.