On December 22, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed an action against Ripple Labs Inc. (“Ripple”), Christian Larsen, the company’s co-founder, executive chairman of its board, and former CEO; and Bradley Garlinghouse, the company’s current CEO (together, the “Defendants”) for conducting an unregistered securities offering with a total value of US$1.38 billion. The Defendants have sold over 14.6 billion units of Ripple’s digital asset known as “XRP” to investors in the U.S.…

On January 14, 2021, Laurel Hill Advisory Group (“Laurel Hill”) and Fasken hosted a webinar on ESG (environmental, social and governance) considerations of which companies should be aware for the upcoming 2021 proxy season. The webinar’s panelists were David Salmon of Laurel Hill and Emilie Bundock, Stephen Erlichman and Grant McGlaughlin of Fasken and was moderated by Gordon Raman of Fasken. Set out below are some of the comments made by the speakers on the…

On January 14, 2021, the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”), Laurel Hill Advisory Group (“Laurel Hill”) and Fasken hosted a conversation on important disclosure and corporate governance considerations for issuers leading into the 2021 proxy season. The panel discussed four discrete areas of recent developments in corporate governance which companies should be aware of before this upcoming 2021 proxy season: An Update from Proxy Advisory Firms An Update from the TSX Diversity Disclosure COVID-19: Lasting Repercussions…

The Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”) recently published a Staff Notice (the “Notice”) to report on the results of the reviews conducted  by the CSA within the scope of its Continuous Disclosure Review Program. The goal of this program is to improve the completeness, quality and timeliness of continuous disclosure provided by reporting issuers. The focus on this post is mainly aimed towards the Notice’s guidance for continuous disclosure in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.…