A trio of whistleblowers have received $7.5 million in payouts from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)\u2014the first set of awards announced by Canada’s largest regulator, which operates the country’s only program that pays for enforcement tips.<\/p>\n

The OSC said Wednesday that it paid out a total of $7.5 million to three whistleblowers in three different enforcement cases. The OSC’s whistleblower program, adopted in 2016, is modelled on a program launched by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2011 to help root out misconduct by offering financial rewards for high-quality enforcement tips.<\/p>\n

Regulators don’t provide details on whistleblower cases in order to protect the anonymity of the tipsters. In its announcement, the OSC said that the recipients of its first-ever awards “voluntarily provided high quality, timely, specific and credible information, which helped advance enforcement actions resulting in monetary payments to the OSC.”<\/p>\n

Under the OSC’s program, whistleblowers are eligible for financial payouts in cases that result in monetary sanctions of at least $1 million, with payouts ranging from 5% to 15% of the sanctions total. Whistleblower awards are capped at $5 million and can only be paid after all appeals on an enforcement order have been exhausted, which is why payouts under the program can take years to materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur whistleblower program has proven to be a game-changer for the OSC\u2019s enforcement efforts,\u201d said Maureen Jensen, chair and CEO of the OSC, in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would not be possible without courageous individuals willing to come forward and provide valuable information about harm to Ontario\u2019s capital markets,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Since the OSC launched its whistleblower program, a couple of other Canadian regulators have set up their own processes to encourage enforcement tips\u2014but these programs do not offer financial rewards.<\/p>\n

Conversely, in the U.S., the SEC has now paid out out more than US$326 million to 59 individuals since making its first award in 2012. In turn, these cases involving whistleblowers have generated US$1.7 billion in regulatory enforcement sanctions for the SEC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhistleblowers expose complex securities misconduct that may not otherwise come to light, allowing us to take timely action,\u201d said Jeff Kehoe, director of enforcement at the OSC, in a statement. \u201cWe hope this announcement, alongside our substantive whistleblower protections, will encourage more whistleblowers to come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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