Former CannTrust CEO Peter Aceto, left, leaves the Old City Hall courthouse after being acquitted on all charges in Toronto on Thursday, December 15, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
TORONTO – Legal experts say the Thursday acquittal of three former cannabis executives should prompt the Ontario Securities Commission to do some “deep soul searching.”
Doug Sarro, a lawyer and adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, says the high-profile case against the ex-CannTrust Holdings Inc. executives was supposed to change the perception of the OSC as being “weak” on enforcement.
Instead, he thinks the acquittal further entrenched that reputation and should prompt the OSC to look more closely at how it handles cases.
The acquittal of ex-chief executive Peter Aceto, chairman Eric Paul and vice-chair Mark Litwin came a day after the regulator revealed it no longer had a reasonable prospect of convicting the men on charges linked to alleged unlicensed cannabis growing at a Niagara area facility.
University of Ottawa law professor Jennifer Quaid says the way the case crumbled without a reasonable prospect makes it “not a very flattering look” for the OSC, which doesn’t have a high success rate.
The regulator, which did not respond to a request for comment, also lost a 2007 insider trading case against Bre-X Minerals Ltd.’s chief geologist and settled a civil lawsuit against Mascan Corp.’s founder after 24 years of litigation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2022.
