McKee, Gordon
Blake, Cassels
& Graydon LLP
(416) 863-3884
gordon.mckee@blakes.com
Mr. McKee focuses on
domestic and multi-
jurisdictional class
actions and product
liability defence. He has
tried class actions, and
regularly defends lead-
ing manufacturers of
pharmaceuticals, med-
ical devices, consumer
products and heavy
equipment.
Melchers, Sophie
Norton Rose Fulbright
Canada LLP
(514) 847-4784
sophie.melchers@nortonrose-
fulbright.com
Ms. Melchers focuses
on commercial, cor-
porate and securities
litigation, including
hostile take-overs, dis-
senting shareholder
remedies, shareholders'
agreements, plans of
arrangement, rights
of first refusal and
insider trading.
Millar, W.A. Derry
WeirFoulds LLP
(416) 947-5021
dmillar@weirfoulds.com
Mr. Millar practises
exclusively civil litiga-
tion and administrative
law. He has appeared
in all levels of court in
Ontario, the Supreme
Court of Canada and
the Federal Court, and
many administrative
tribunals.
Meghji, Al
Osler, Hoskin
& Harcourt LLP
(416) 862-5677
ameghji@osler.com
Mr. Meghji, also a CPA,
is a tax litigator who
appears frequently in
the courts for leading
Canadian and multi-
national corporations.
Has argued several
landmark tax cases
including the first GAAR
case and the first
transfer pricing case
in the SCC.
Michell, M. Paul
Lax O'Sullivan Scott
Lisus LLP
(416) 644-5359
pmichell@counsel-toronto.
com
Mr. Michell's practice
focuses on commercial
litigation and arbitra-
tion, judicial review and
civil appeals. He is ex-
perienced in the Ontario
and federal courts,
the Supreme Court
of Canada and before
administrative and
arbitral tribunals.
Mitchell, QC,
Warren J.A.
Thorsteinssons LLP
(604) 689-1261
wjamitchell@thor.ca
Mr. Mitchell focuses on
large case tax litigation.
He has appeared as
counsel in the provin-
cial, trial and appellate
divisions of British
Columbia and Ontario,
and in the Tax Court of
Canada, Federal Court,
and the SCC.
two-week span, the Competition Bureau obtained record-
setting fines against two Japanese auto parts suppliers that
pleaded guilty to bid-rigging charges. Yazaki Corporation
was fined $30 million by the Ontario Superior Court of
Justice, the largest ever ordered by a court in Canada for a
bid-rigging offence, and Furukawa Electric Co. was fined $5
million as well.
In May 2015, however, the bureau suffered a major setback
in another bid-rigging case, one that the defendant's lawyer,
Peter Mantas of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, said of-
fered a key message for lawyers and clients accused of fraud.
An 11-person jury, following an eight-month trial, found
six individuals and three corporations, including TPG Tech-
nology Consulting, not guilty of 60 charges under s. 47 of
the Competition Act. e allegations concerned responses to
request for proposals in 2005 by several government bodies
by several companies in the Ottawa information technology
consulting industry.
Mantas, who represented TPG, said the decision to re-
quest a jury trial (it took a month to select a jury, longer than
for the murder trial of Luka Magnotta), contrary to the typi-
cal strategy for a long and complex fraud trial, is an option
that should be considered more oen. "Juries can be pretty
good at looking at a case, even if it's a complex commercial
litigation, from a big-picture perspective. ey can really
bring an element of common sense to it, which they did in
this case."
Mantas is also the lawyer for Nigel Wright, former Prime
Minister Harper's chief of staff who wrote a personal cheque
for $90,172 to pay questionable expenditures by Senator
Mike Duffy. Wright agreed to talk with investigators from
the outset, a decision Mantas says that lawyers oen counsel
their clients against if they face possible criminal charges.
But in this day and age, he says, there could be circum-
stances in which that is the best strategy, because "if you
have that discussion there's a chance you might be able
to persuade them not to charge you at all." He notes that
Duffy, who did not talk to investigators, was charged.
Although it seems authorities are getting tougher on white-
collar crime and corruption, Munaf Mohamed, a partner in
the Calgary office of Bennett Jones LLP, notes that Canada's
reputation for inaction may still apply.
"In terms of the intersection between civil claims and
the authorities, my experience is that our law enforcement
are taxed too thin and don't have the resources to pursue
complex commercial fraud," he says. He cites a matter he
recently completed where a Canadian individual defrauded
a financial institution by cycling more than a billion dol-
lars through a number of US entities, some publicly traded,
and defrauded the financial institution of a large amount
through a kiting scheme. "e financial institution took ac-
tion, obtained Mareva injunctions and other extraordinary
measures and enjoyed a substantial recovery," he says. "e
fellow in the US was indicted and convicted and will likely
receive 25 years for his part. e Canadian charged in the US
confessed. e Canadian authorities have yet to pursue this
individual for this matter."
Mohamed's example rings far too true to many who keep
tabs on the white-collar crime landscape in Canada. ere
does seem to be at least somewhat of a sea change, how-
ever, and Canadian companies that fail to believe that and
respond, especially with the implementation of meaningful
compliance programs, could find themselves in water much
hotter than they'd ever imagined before.
Securities Enforcement
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