Chicago (IL) - In one of the largest Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) fines ever, the two co-Chief Executives of Research In Motion (RIM) - maker of the BlackBerry - have been ordered to pay $77 million Canadian, which is about US$62 million. The ruling is part of a mutual settlement for fines and damages relating to alleged stock option backdating.





TG Daily had previously reported that the settlement was near, and now Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, the co-CEOs of RIM, will pay "the bulk of the fines," along with former CEO, Dennis Kavelman, according to reports. Additional RIM executives and directors will also be required to pay fines.



Lazaridis will pay a penalty of $1.5M Canadian (US$1.2M) to the commission. Balsillie will pay $5M Canadian (US$4M) to the commission, and an additional $700,000 Canadian (US$570K) to the Ontario Securities Commission investigation expenses.



Balsillie has already stepped down as Chairman and will also be prevented from being a director of any other company for a period of one year, though he will be allowed to remain an executive at RIM.



Together, Lazaridis, Balsillie and Kavelman must repay a total of $38.3M Canadian (US$31.1M) plus $5.3M Canadian (US$4.3M) in interest to the company itself, RIM. They must also pay $44.8M Canadian (US$36.5M) to cover the company's investigative costs. They have reportedly already paid $15M Canadian (US$12.3M) prior to the ruling.



See the original AP article republished on Forbes.com.