OSC v. Ming Chao Zhao (insider trading, 2013)

Settled

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In 2013 the Ontario Securities Commission approved a settlement with Ming Chao Zhao, a BMO Nesbitt Burns investment banking analyst who admitted trading, through a relative's account, ahead of announcements of mergers involving five reporting issuers between 2010 and 2011. He agreed to a C$750,000 penalty, disgorgement of C$416,719 and permanent registrant bans.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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Penalty as published

C$750k

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars. This regulator states penalties in CAD. The figure is recorded as published and is not converted, so it does not appear in the USD totals or medians used elsewhere on this site.

What is alleged to have happened

The Ontario Securities Commission issued its statement of allegations on May 2, 2013 and approved the settlement on May 17, 2013.

The agreed facts are that Zhao, while an analyst at BMO, held undisclosed information about merger and acquisition deals involving Menu Foods, Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines, Forzani Group, Pacific Northern Gas and Canmarc REIT, and directed purchases of their securities in a TD Waterhouse discount brokerage account held by a family member.

The order carries a C$750,000 administrative penalty, disgorgement of C$416,719 and permanent bans on acting as a registrant, investment fund manager or promoter.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Insider trading — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2013-04-30 Settlement Agreement
2. 2013-05-02 Notice of Hearing
3. 2013-05-02 Statement of Allegations
4. 2013-05-17 Reasons and Decision

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• Tribunal proceeding
• Settlement Agreement
• Notice of Hearing
• Statement of Allegations
• Reasons and Decision

The linked release is published by the issuing regulator under its own terms. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.