Tyler is a Partner of our Toronto office and the Regional Leader of the White Collar Crime Practice Group. He is Co-Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Canadian subcommittee on White Collar Crime and a member of the ABA Global Anti-Corruption Task Force.
Areas of Practice
Tyler acts for individuals and corporations during all phases of the criminal and regulatory process, ranging from the oversight and implementation of preventative compliance programs to the active investigation of suspected unlawful activity, frequently involving the execution of production orders, search warrants and compelled interviews. In addition, Tyler defends clients during the prosecutorial and penalty phases of litigation, including civil and criminal asset forfeiture proceedings.
On the compliance side, Tyler has advised clients in relation to their obligations under domestic and international law, including anti-money laundering and anti-bribery and foreign corrupt practice legislation.
On the regulatory front, Tyler has acted for parties facing prosecutions for alleged offences committed under numerous federal and provincial statutes, including the Competition Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Fisheries Act, the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, the Ontario Drug Benefit Act, the Financial Administration Act, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, and various provincial Securities Acts. Tyler has also represented clients before numerous administrative tribunals and self-regulatory organizations, including the Ontario Securities Commission, the Manitoba Securities Commission, the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Mutual Fund Dealers Association, the TSX Venture Exchange and the Law Society of Upper Canada.
In relation to criminal and quasi-criminal prosecutions, Tyler regularly represents parties charged with a wide assortment of offences under the Criminal Code, the Provincial Offences Act, and the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Tyler has also represented parties subpoenaed to testify in criminal and quasi-criminal proceedings.
Tyler was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1999 and has been a Registered Practitioner with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts since 2006.
Background
Tyler has practiced primarily in the areas of criminal and regulatory compliance and litigation, with a focus on white collar crime, both in a domestic and international context.
Tyler commenced his career as an associate at Greenspan, Henein & White in Toronto before becoming an Assistant Crown Attorney with the downtown Toronto office. In over five years at the Crown's office, Tyler prosecuted hundreds of cases ranging from shoplifting to first-degree murder. In the latter half of his tenure at the Crown's office, Tyler's practice focused on financial crime, especially complex prosecutions involving multi-jurisdictional fraud and forgery. Following his time at the Crown's office, Tyler joined the Enforcement Branch of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) as litigation counsel, where Tyler assumed carriage of prosecutions involving insider trading, unauthorized trading and advising, and the illegal distributions of securities.
In 2006, Tyler accepted the position of Manager of the Enforcement Division of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), where he was involved in a number of international prosecutions for fraudulent and illegal conduct and appeared as counsel before the DIFC Courts (trial level). Prior to returning to Canada, Tyler was named Chief Legal Officer for Dubai First International LLC, a consumer finance subsidiary of Dubai Holding. As CLO, Tyler was responsible for supervising compliance and company law matters in relation to international finance projects (both conventional and Sharia'a compliant) in emerging markets, including Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia and Russia.
Tyler has appeared in all levels of court in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Superior Court of Justice on both jury and judge alone trials.
Tyler has a Bachelor of Arts (1994), Masters of Arts (2009) and Juris Doctorate (1997), all from the University of Toronto.
Publications
- From famine to feast: the prosecution of multi-jurisdictional financial crime in the electronic age (2008), Journal of Financial Crime, Volume 15, Issue 3, pp. 320-337
- Secularism Prêt-à-Porter: An Analysis of the Effects of Law 2004-228 Banning Conspicuous Religious Symbols in Public Schools on Freedom of Conscience, Symposia, Spring 2009, Volume 1, Number 1, pp. 16-34
- Global Jurisdiction for a Global Crime: the Long Reach of Anti-Bribery Laws in G7 Nations, ABA Criminal Justice Section Global Anti-Corruption Task Force, Insight from the Trenches (September, 2011)
Media Appearances