A foreign whistleblower has been paid $150,000 under the Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) program that pays for tips that lead to successful enforcement activity.
The regulator said the tip in this case alerted it to “significant issues at an early-stage firm.”
“While not an employee, the whistleblower had access to non-public and hard-to-detect information,” it reported.
The OSC said its whistleblower program is looking for tips about “novel and emerging” issues in securities regulation, such as incidents of greenwashing, auditor misconduct, and high-tech abuse involving the use of artificial intelligence.
It’s also looking for reports of suspected misconduct that would otherwise be difficult to uncover, including tips from insiders, external contractors and service providers, and even those involved in potential misconduct, it noted.
“This case highlights the global reach of the OSC Whistleblower Program, which attracts tips from beyond our borders and pays awards to individuals from anywhere in the world,” said André Moniz, manager of the OSC Office of the Whistleblower, in a release.
With this latest reward, the OSC’s whistleblower program has now paid out more than $10 million to whistleblowers.
By comparison, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (OSC) program — which was the model for the OSC’s initiative — has paid out almost US$2 billion in rewards, including its single-largest award of US$279 million in 2023.