The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) recently released its annual report on the enforcement activities of its members. The CSA is the pan-Canadian organization for the country's ten provincial and three territorial securities regulators. The 2019 report does not specifically comment on the decline in activity levels but does note that "the raw numbers do not capture the entire picture".
Summary of 2019 Results1
2019 |
2018 |
|
Commenced Cases (by notice of hearing or statement of allegations, sworn information before the courts or, in Québec, served statement of offence) |
38 |
63 |
Concluded Matters (final decision issued or settlement reached) |
75 |
94 |
Fines, Administrative Penalties & Other (included penalties, disgorgement, voluntary payments) |
$45.5 million |
$77.5 million |
Restitution, Compensation and Disgorgement Orders |
$13.5 million |
$109.6 million |
Preventative Measures |
|
|
Interim cease-trade orders |
95 |
100 |
asset-freeze orders |
84 |
89 |
Investor warnings and alerts |
66 |
46 |
Market bans2 |
|
|
· Individuals |
65 |
63 |
· Companies |
33 |
18 |
Whistleblower program tips |
291 |
156 |
Quasi- Criminal and Criminal Cases
In prosecutions under their respective securities acts, British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario collectively obtained custodial sentences in seven cases. Eight individual respondents received aggregate sentences of 10.8 years with individual sentences ranging from 90 days to 1.5 years.
CSA members, either independently or in collaboration with law enforcement agencies, also investigated breaches of the Criminal Code.
Seven cases were commenced with seven individuals being found guilty. Four individuals received aggregate sentences of 18 years and 11 months with jail terms ranging from eight months to nine years.
Collaborative Measures
The CSA has undertaken a number of collaborative activities, which reflects the provincial and national reach of securities and derivatives trading. Highlights of the CSA's activities include the following:
- CSA members referred 91 cases to each other and assisted in 63 cases
- The CSA will launch the Market Analysis Platform, a data repository and analytics system that will help members identify and analyze market misconduct
- The Enforcement Technology and Analytics working group assessed and acted upon current and emerging technology-enabled threats
- The Investment Fraud Task Force (emerging issues) focused on, amongst other issues, misbehavior utilizing forex and crypto assets
- CSA members explored new cooperation opportunities with federal agencies to strengthen detection, prosecution and deterrence of white-collar crime and securities laws violations.
Footnotes
1 The numbers in this table and in this article have been taken from the CSA's 2019 Enforcement Report, which can be found at http://www.csasanctions.ca/assets/pdf/CSA-Enforcement-Report-English.pdf and the CSA's 2018 Enforcement report available at https://www.securities-administrators.ca/uploadedFiles/General/pdfs/CSA-Enforcement-Report_FINAL201819.pdf
2 58% of individuals and 73% of companies received permanent bans.
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Originally published July 15, 2020.
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