An engineer that traded on a tip about a pending acquisition involving his former company is being sanctioned in a settlement with the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC).
The executive director of the ASC entered a settlement with Colton Kenneth Smith of Calgary, who admitted to breaching securities laws by trading in the stock of i3 Energy plc — which was the parent company for a company he used to work at, i3 Energy Canada Ltd. — based on inside information about the company’s potential acquisition.
According to the settlement, Smith was tipped by a friend and former colleague at i3 Energy Canada, Russell Ingram — another engineer who passed along inside information between May 30 and Aug. 14, 2024 about i3’s potential acquisition.
After the deal was announced on Aug. 19, Smith allegedly made a notional profit of $29,633 by trading on the inside information.
Now, in a settlement with the ASC, Smith agreed to pay $65,000 to the commission, including costs. He was also banned for five years.
Earlier this year, Ingram also settled with the ASC. He agreed to pay $45,000 to the ASC and to a three-year ban, after admitting to tipping Smith.
“The obligation not to trade on material, non-public information extends beyond corporate insiders,” said Cynthia Campbell, director of enforcement at the ASC, in a release.
“Confidential information does not become fair game simply because it is passed to a friend, family member or business associate,” she added. “Those who receive such information are prohibited from trading on it until that information has been publicly disclosed.”