Lawrence E. Ritchie Lawrence E. Ritchie

Changes of enforcement leadership raise questions about new priorities

Amid recent departures from top enforcement jobs, personalities and personal agendas can affect regulators’ strategies and enforcement priorities.

Canadian Securities Administrators’ 2023–2024 annual Year in Review

The annual report highlights efforts undertaken in response to emerging issues and changing conditions in the country’s capital markets.

Proposed amendments would allow email summons from the Ontario Securities Commission

Ontario is proposing to ease the requirements for the OSC when delivering summonses in the course of enforcement investigations.

The OSC’s new proposal to distribute funds from disgorgement orders to harmed investors

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has published proposed rules that outline the procedure the OSC and harmed investors must follow for the...

Supreme Court of Canada decision impacts Securities Commissions’ ability to collect from bankrupt transgressors

On July 31, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on whether financial sanctions imposed by securities regulators are dischargeable through...

Long-awaited U.S. Supreme Court ruling curtails SEC’s use of administrative courts

The U.S. States Supreme Court ruled on a decade-long dispute between the SEC and a hedge fund manager.

SEC wins novel ‘shadow trading’ trial against biopharma executive

A novel theory of insider trading known as “shadow trading” involves the use of material non-public information about a reporting issuer...

CIRO publishes proposals to level the advisor compensation playing field

Earlier this year, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization published a consultation paper outlining policy options that would help to level...

Duty of procedural fairness that would be owed to witnesses in issuing summonses under the Securities Act is minimal

A recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision confirmed that, amongst the very limited avenues that witnesses have to challenge a regulatory...

More complaints and more investigations: highlights from CIRO’s inaugural Enforcement Report

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization released a report on its enforcement activities for its first year of operations. Lawrence Ritchie,...