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Former investment banker Andrew Rankin has asked the Ontario Securities Commission to change the penalties it imposed on him three years ago after he acknowledged tipping a friend about pending takeover deals.

The OSC has not revealed information about the type of changes Mr. Rankin is seeking, saying only that he wants a "variation or revocation" of the commission's original decision on Feb. 21, 2008.

Commission spokeswoman Wendy Dey said anyone subject to an order from the commission has the ability to ask for amendments, and "staff will respond accordingly to the application."

Mr. Rankin, a former managing director in the mergers and acquisitions department at RBC Dominion Securities Inc., was accused of tipping long-time friend Daniel Duic about confidential deals his team was working on between 1999 and 2001. Mr. Duic earned a profit of about $4.5-million by trading shares of companies involved in the deals.

Mr. Rankin was convicted of 10 counts of tipping following a five-week trial in Ontario Court in 2005, but had the conviction overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered. The OSC settled the case in 2008 by dropping the quasi-criminal charges in exchange for Mr. Rankin settling the case in an administrative tribunal hearing at the commission.

The settlement agreement approved in February, 2008, required him to pay $250,000 toward the OSC's investigation costs. He also received a lifetime ban from working in the securities industry or serving as a director or officer of a public company, and received a 10-year ban from trading securities in Ontario.

There were two exceptions to the trading ban cited in the OSC's order, one allowing him to trade in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds from one locked-in retirement account held in his name only, and the other allowing him to contribute to one registered education savings plan held at E-Trade Canada. E-Trade was acquired by Bank of Nova Scotia in 2009, however, and became part of the bank's on-line brokerage operation.

Mr. Rankin, who now lives in Los Angeles and heads a small software company, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The hearing panel that approved the settlement agreement in 2008 said one reason it agreed to endorse the deal was because the sanctions imposed on Mr. Rankin reflected "the seriousness with which the commission regards tipping" and reflected "our strong view that Rankin's conduct fell far below what we expect of a person in his circumstances."

The panel, headed by OSC vice-chairman James Turner, said the lifetime ban from working in the securities industry or serving as a director or officer of a public company ensures "the future protection of investors and capital markets by taking away any opportunity Rankin may have to ever again engage in similar conduct."

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:29pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
BNS-N
Bank of Nova Scotia
+1.21%51.78
BNS-T
Bank of Nova Scotia
+0.94%70.07

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