Canadian Lawyer - sample

62 M A Y 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m n the way to her office one morning in early March, Nadia Campi- on glanced up at the digital display in the elevator she had just entered and noticed an ad for a snitch program that has caused more than one client to pick up the phone and call her. It was a promotion from the Ontario Securities Commission's Office of the Whistleblower: "Know of a company breaking securities law? We want to hear from you." Campion, a partner at Polley Faith LLP in Toronto, says she has ques- tioned whether the prospect of finan- cial rewards will have an impact on the number of whistleblowers who come forward, the quality of the informa- tion and the seriousness of the conduct reported. But in a January article pub- lished by the New York School of Law on the topic, 2016 was heralded as a "banner year" for the SEC and Com- modity Futures Trading Commission's whistleblower programs. "The stats look pretty favourable to the regulators," she says. "In my view, I think that financial rewards are likely the best way forward for regulators, and in any event, the criteria for obtaining a financial reward are difficult to satisfy — they provide a good counterweight to the concerns expressed by critics and act as a strong gatekeeper to prevent the misuse of the whistleblower program," says Campion. The OSC's whistleblower program was introduced in July 2016 and offers financial rewards of up to $5 million to those who voluntarily come for- ward with information — provided, of course, that they satisfy certain eligibil- ity criteria and that the information submitted is of real assistance to the OSC and results in monetary sanctions of $1 million or more. The rewards promised are potentially much less, but the program is somewhat similar to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commis- sion program created in 2011, as a reac- tion to the 2008 financial crisis. So far, the SEC has paid out US$149 million to 41 whistleblowers. In January, the SEC announced an award of $7 million to be split between three whistleblowers who helped the SEC prosecute an investment scheme. In the Ontario program, individu- als who participate in the misconduct reported are also eligible for a finan- cial reward. In addition to financial rewards, whistleblowers to the OSC are promised various protections, includ- L E G A L R E P O RT \ W H I T E C O L L A R GARY NEILL Incenting securities snitches Will financial rewards to whistleblowers from the OSC help or hinder companies from complying with securities laws? By Jennifer Brown O

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