Tag archives: Ontario Securities Commission

Quadrexx Hedge Capital Management Ltd. v. Ontario Securities Commission: First Application Of The Vavilov Standard of Review to an OSC Decision

In a previous post, we discussed the new standard of appellate review of tribunal decisions described in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 (Vavilov) and its implications for the Ontario Securities Commission (the OSC). In Quadrexx Hedge Capital Management Ltd. v. Ontario Securities Commission, 2020 ONSC 4392, the Divisional Court … Continue reading

OSC Panel Approves Settlement Agreement for Insider Tipping Without Profit Disgorgement or Administrative Penalty

The Ontario Securities Commission’s recent decision in Re Hutchinson confirmed the important role of cooperation with Commission Staff in reducing sanctions for breaches of Ontario’s securities law. Background Donna Hutchinson worked as a legal assistant at a large Toronto law firm, assisting with merger and acquisition transactions. Through the course of her work, Ms. Hutchinson … Continue reading

SEC ruling on The DAO signals increased acceptance of blockchain-based securities

On July 25, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement on the regulatory significance of offers and sales of digital assets carried out using distributed ledger or blockchain technology.  That statement followed the SEC’s Report of Investigation into The DAO, an unincorporated organization designed to issue tokens administered on a distributed ledger … Continue reading

Home Capital Group Inc. Settlement with the OSC: Lessons Learned

On August 9, 2017 the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) approved a settlement agreement entered into by Home Capital Group Inc (HCG), a reporting issuer in the residential and commercial lending business, Gerald Soloway (Soloway), its former founder and CEO, Robert Morton (Morton), its former CFO and  Martin Reid (Reid), its former President. Both Morton and … Continue reading

OSC Approves Its 9th No Contest Settlement

On July 13, 2017, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced that it had approved yet another “no-contest” settlement resolving unproven allegations by OSC Staff that there were inadequacies in certain mutual fund dealers’ systems of controls and supervision which resulted in clients paying excess fees that were not detected or corrected in a timely manner, … Continue reading

Johnny Come Lately: The Conclusion of the OSC Hearing Into Sino-Forest

By now the facts underlying the recently concluded Ontario Securities Commission hearing into Sino-Forest Corporation should be well known.  Sino-Forest was a reporting issuer in Ontario, reportedly in the business of operating commercial forest plantations in the People’s Republic of China.  Between 1995 and its demise in 2013, when it entered into a Plan of … Continue reading

Fiorillo v Ontario Securities Commission: deference wins the day on insider trading appeal

The Divisional Court recently upheld an Ontario Securities Commission (Commission) decision sanctioning a number of individuals for insider trading and tipping, and acting contrary to the public interest.[1] This is the latest in a series of unsuccessful appeals from Commission decisions, suggesting that the courts’ significant deference to decisions of that tribunal makes most appeals … Continue reading

“Substance over form” in defining a security

What constitutes a “security” under the Ontario Securities Act? In Ontario (Securities Commission) v Tiffin, 2016 ONCJ 543, the accused was charged with three offences under the Act for issuing a number of promissory notes while prohibited from trading in securities. Under the Act, security is defined to include “a bond, debenture, note or other … Continue reading
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