BCE Inc. Bell Canada signage is displayed outside the company's office building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012.Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
A former executive assistant at BCE Inc. is facing charges for allegedly illegally tipping friends and family members about pending takeover deals, helping them earn more than $1-million in profits by trading in advance of announcements.
Quebec's securities regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), alleges that Renée Morier, the former executive assistant to now-retired BCE chief financial officer Siim Vanaselja, tipped friends and family members about transactions between 2012 and 2015. She faces nine charges, including eight counts of illegal tipping of insider information.
The AMF also charged six others who allegedly participated in the trading, including Ms. Morier's spouse, Sylvain Milette. He is facing eight charges, including two counts of insider trading and four counts of tipping. The regulator also charged Ms. Morier's parents and Mr. Milette's parents, as well as a friend, Francis Beauchamp.
The AMF has taken the uncommon step of laying quasi-criminal charges under provincial securities legislation, which means the case will be heard in court, and there is a possibility of jail terms if the accused are found guilty. Violations of the Quebec Securities Act carry maximum penalties of five years less a day in jail.
AMF chief executive officer Louis Morisset said the regulator wants to send a strong message of deterrence to anyone who would consider passing along confidential insider information.
"By using privileged information that is not available to the public, offenders create an imbalance that has an impact on investor confidence and market efficiency," he said in a release on Thursday. "This is unacceptable and the reason why the AMF has made deterring illegal insider trading a top priority."
The AMF said Ms. Morier is liable to a minimum fine of $73,000 if convicted, while Mr. Milette would face a minimum fine of $138,802 and Mr. Beauchamp could be fined a minimum of $703,484 if convicted. Ms. Morier's and Mr. Beauchamp's parents are facing total minimum fines of $1.76-million.
The Quebec regulator filed court documents earlier this year to obtain orders freezing banks accounts of the accused, ensuring $1.9-million in the accounts could not be withdrawn.
Documents filed in court to obtain the freeze orders said the AMF believed Ms. Morier passed along information about BCE's plans to acquire Glentel Inc., Bell Aliant Inc. and Astral Media Inc. before the deals were announced. Bell bought Glentel earlier this year for $594-million, purchased Bell Aliant for $3.95-billion in 2014, and bought Astral Media for $3.2-billion in 2013.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that insider trading charges laid in the case carry maximum penalties of 10 years in jail under the Criminal Code. In fact, charges were laid under the Quebec Securities Act with a maximum penalty of five years less a day in jail. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Sylvain Millete's parents are facing fines. In fact, it is Francis Beauchamp's parents.
Janet McFarland