A jury has found ex-RCMP intelligence officer Cameron Ortis guilty of sending sensitive information to alleged criminals and money launderers in an unprecedented trial.
After almost three days of deliberation, the jury found Ortis guilty of four counts of breaching Canada’s official secrets law, one count of breaching trust and one count of misusing a computer system.
Following the verdict, Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger said that Ortis’s bail would be revoked prior to sentencing.
Prosecutor Judy Kliewer suggested the Crown would seek a prison sentence in the range of 20 or more years, “and that’s what we expect to see.”
Defence lawyer Mark Ertel said he was “shocked and extremely disappointed” at the outcome. He said there would be an appeal.
“I think an innocent man has just been found guilty of six serious offences,” Ertel said.
“I’m really at a loss for words, I can’t believe what happened.”
The defence contended that the former official did not betray Canada, but was rather acting on a “clear and grave threat.”
Ortis’ arrest in October 2019 sent a shockwave through the Canadian security and intelligence community. From his perch as a top civilian intelligence official at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, Ortis had near-unlimited access to criminal and national security intelligence collected by the Mounties, Canada’s spy agencies, and partners from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.
He spent the following four years in custody and out on bail, cut off from the internet and from his former colleagues. He plead not guilty to all of the charges against him.
Ortis’ case finally went to trial this past October, with both the Crown and his defence team arguing the central question was whether the former intelligence official had the authority to dangle sensitive intelligence in front of alleged criminals.
According to his version of events, Ortis was attempting to lure his targets onto an encrypted email platform called Tutanota. Ortis suggested the email service – which sold itself as protecting users’ privacy – was in fact a “storefront” operation that shared emails with an unnamed Western intelligence service.
The company, now called Tuta, strongly denied any cooperation with intelligence services.
Ortis said he did this on behalf of an allied intelligence service, which forbade him from sharing his plans with anyone in the RCMP over fears the national police force could be compromised. Ortis called his plan “Operation Nudge,” and testified that it was in response to a “clear and grave threat” against Canadian national security.
Crown prosecutors spent comparatively little time on Ortis’ motivations, instead highlighting emails to alleged criminal contacts offering to exchange uncensored versions of sensitive intelligence – called “special operational information” in law – in exchange for cash.
In her closing arguments, Crown prosecutor Judy Kliewer suggested Ortis’ version lacked “the slightest ring of truth.”
RCMP investigators did not find any unexplained sources of income in Ortis’ financial records, however, suggesting no money ultimately changed hands.
With files from the Canadian Press.
Comments