Stocks watchdog offers $5M to tipsters

Securities commission to pay whistleblowers for info on insider trading and fraud

Ontario’s securities watchdog says July 14 is the launch date for its whistleblower program, which will pay up to $5 million for information about accounting fraud, insider trading and market manipulation.

The Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) whistleblower program — the first in Canada to pay for tips — will include protections for those who come forward, such as confidentiality and anti-retaliation measures.

The OSC originally planned to cap payments to tipsters at $1.5 million, but increased the upper limit after experts suggested it was too little to compensate senior executives who risk losing lucrative jobs and being blacklisted from their industries.

Payouts would still be capped at $1.5 million unless the regulator is able to collect at least $10 million in sanctions related to the case. In such cases, the whistleblower would receive between 5 and15 per cent of the sanctions collected, up to a maximum of $5 million.

In the United States, whistleblowers can receive a 10- to 30-per-cent payout, with no cap on the total payment amount, but only if the securities regulator is able to collect the money that it’s owed.

The OSC also announced Thursday the Chief of the Office of the Whistleblower will be Kelly Gorman, who has been deputy director of enforcement for the provincial agency.