Insider Trading - January 29, 2016

The Alberta Court of Appeal referred an insider trading sanctions of $1.75m in administrative penalties back to the Alberta Securities Commission ("ASC") because it saw no clear basis for the penalty that did not apparently consider the individual's financial difficulties.

The ASC, on rehearing sanctions submissions, considered various factors, including the seriousness of the finding against the respondent, benefits he received, and harms and risk to the capital markets. The panel issued a 22-page decision that robustly examines the principles of sanctioning in general, with specific application to insider trading. The panel ultimately reduced the fine to $600,000, which was arrived at by multiplying the benefits to the Respondent, aggravated or mitigated by the above factors, by the number of breaches. While this is a common practice in determining administrative penalties, it is not a binding formula. Read the full decision here.