Lawrence E. Ritchie Lawrence E. Ritchie

Feds Release Revised Draft of Legislation to Curtail Systemic Risk in Capital Markets

In the latest step toward establishing the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory Authority, the Department of Finance Canada has released a revised...

Whistleblower Incentive Programs Continue to Gain Traction as the U.S. CFTC Announces $10-million Payout

With the Ontario Securities Commission’s new incentive-based whistleblower program now on the horizon, recent awards under comparable whistleblower...

US Department of Justice Launches Pilot Program to Encourage Self-Reporting, Cooperation and Remediation of FCPA Violations

Last week the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the implementation of a pilot program under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The...

IOSCO Report on Cyber Security in Securities Markets

In a climate where cyber risk is a rapidly “growing and significant threat to the integrity, efficiency and soundness of financial markets...

SEC Announces $2-Million in Whistleblower Awards

Compliance officers, in house counsel, management and board members of public companies are beginning to recognize the realities of external...

Cooperative Capital Markets Regulator Releases Proposed Transition Approach

The CCMR has recently posted a summary of its proposed “Transition Approach”. This approach lays out the following transitional principles, with...

Qualcomm pays FCPA fine for hiring relatives of Chinese government officials

On the March 1, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Qualcomm Incorporated (Qualcomm) had agreed to pay a $7.5...

New Finance Minister Backs Plan for Cooperative National Securities Regulator

The newly appointed Minister of Finance recently affirmed the federal government’s support of a cooperative national securities regulator. Minister...

US Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Salman Insider Trading Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the challenge to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision in United States v. Salman, a case that...

Defining a ‘Whistleblower’

On December 31, 2015, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III denied an employee whistleblower protection under the Dodd-Frank Act. Rather than reporting...