Decision in brief: Go-To Developments Holdings Inc, Enforcement Proceeding, Motion for adjournment, disclosure and confidentiality, November 24, 2023

In this enforcement proceeding, OSC staff alleges that Oscar Furtado and companies he controls defrauded investors, and that he misled staff when he was questioned during their investigation.

In a separate decision the Tribunal adjourned (delayed) the start of the hearing of the merits of staff’s allegations against Furtado from August 21 to November 3, 2023, at his request.

Furtado asked the Tribunal to delay the start of the hearing another six months. He says he is unable to prepare for or participate in the hearing due to health issues. He also says OSC staff provided documents to him late and he needs more time to review those documents to prepare for the hearing.

OSC staff says the hearing should not be delayed because Furtado did not give enough detail about his health issues and whether they would affect his ability to prepare for or participate in the hearing. Furtado has had at least five months to review the documents he says he needs more time to review, and, anyway, they are Furtado’s own financial and corporate documents.

The Tribunal decided that Furtado did not give enough medical evidence to show that his health issues justify delaying the start of the hearing again. It also decided that Furtado does not need more time to review the documents.

Furtado asked that the hearing of part of his adjournment request take place in private and any documents containing his health information that were provided to the Tribunal also be kept private.

Staff says that because Furtado’s adjournment request is based on his health issues, the adjournment hearing should take place in public and the details of his health issues should not be kept private. Staff says that the general rule that hearings should be open to the public is more important than protecting Furtado’s privacy.

The Tribunal heard part of Furtado’s adjournment request in private but decided to keep private only those parts of the transcript (written record of what was said at the hearing) and the documents provided to the Tribunal that contain specific details of Furtado’s health issues. Since Furtado’s health is part of the reason for his adjournment request, there needs to be enough information that is not private so that the public can understand the Tribunal’s decision.