FACTOR Reveals It Received $11 Million In Settlement With Scotiabank in Blockbuster Cybertheft Case

FACTOR has received an $11 million settlement in the cybertheft case that rocked the Canadian music industry.

The number was quietly revealed in the Canadian non-profit's recently-released annual report, which reports on the finances of the company's last year. The company confirmed this summer that it had reached a settlement with Scotiabank over the nearly $9.8 million that had gone missing from its account, two years after initiating legal proceedings in March 2024. However, the amount they had settled for was not released until now.

"FACTOR, in consultation with its legal and financial advisors, initiated legal proceedings to pursue recovery of the misappropriated funds," the report states in a subheading titled "Recovery of Misappropriated Funds."

"In March 2026, FACTOR recovered $11,000,000 in connection with this matter."

The saga started in March 2025 when $9,772,875 went missing from FACTOR's Scotiabank account. $9,394,372 was reportedly converted to cryptocurrency and deemed untraceable. The remaining $378,503 was recovered and returned to FACTOR.

The $11 million settlement is approximately $1.6 million more than the initial loss. Even accounting for legal fees, that signals a seemingly definitive victory for the Canadian non-profit, which aims to foster the development of Canadian artists and music companies through programs and financial funding.

Neither FACTOR nor Scotiabank responded to requests for comment by Billboard Canada.

In a statement sent to Billboard Canada in June when the settlement was made public, Meg Symsyk, president and CEO of FACTOR, said that "while we couldn’t control what happened to us, we proved in a court of law that FACTOR and its staff were not involved in this incident" and thanked the Canadian music sector for their support during the legal process.

Speaking more generally in her intro letter to the annual report now, Symsyk admits that the last year has been of the most challenging for FACTOR but comments on the perseverance of the organization and the strength of Canadian music that it has shown.

"This year has reinforced an enduring truth: our strongest qualities are often revealed in the moments that challenge us most," she writes. "Candidly, this was a season that tested us, our organization, and our broader community. But it also revealed the very qualities that define us: our resilience, collective strength, and our unwavering commitment to our mission. Throughout it all, alongside our incredible team and stakeholders, FACTOR remains guided by a deceptively simple principle: always do the right thing." It's a sentiment that reflects Symsyk's speech at this year's Billboard Canada Power Players at NXNE 2026, where she won the Visionary Leadership Award.

The words could reflect the Scotiabank case, but could also reflect a number of other battles the organization has fought over the past year.

Intriguingly, the annual report also reveals that FACTOR has been fighting to protect its trademark against HelloFresh, the company behind the meal kit service Factor Meals.

"The opposition proceedings relate to FACTOR’s position that the proposed Factor trademark has created marketplace confusion, including instances where consumers contacted FACTOR believing it to be associated with Factor Meals," the report says.

The company has also been at the heart of ongoing negotiations regarding the Online Streaming Act, which would require major foreign-owned music and visual media streaming services to pay into Canadian content funds including FACTOR. The ruling has become a firebrand amidst trade tensions between Canada and the United States.

The report reveals that during the year ended March 31, 2026, FACTOR received $537,545 related to contributions from online streaming services. Those funds, however, are still tentative as the major streaming services push back against those CRTC-mandated requirements in the Federal Court of Appeal. "Whether FACTOR is entitled to retain the funds remains subject to the outcome of the proceedings."

As for the cybertheft case, while the case is now settled, there are still some hanging threads.

As Billboard Canada reported after attending the court proceedings in January, Ontario Superior Court of Justice W.D. Black issued an arrest warrant for James Campagna, the sole shareholder of Vipera, a Quebec-based tech company that was accused of moving the FACTOR money into an account owned by cryptocurrency platform VirgoCX Direct.

In an endorsement at the time, Justice Black wrote that Campagna, who according to FACTOR's investigations had fled jurisdiction to Qatar, "is a liar, a fraud, and a scofflaw, deliberately and knowingly breaching this court’s orders."

"Mr. Campagna has lied about various aspects of his conduct and activities in relation to the fraudulent transfer,” he wrote. “It is highly likely that he was a knowing and active participant in the fraud, and that he has benefitted and continues to benefit from the proceeds of that fraud.”

While FACTOR fought vigorously for a resolution, fraud remains a growing concern across Canada. At the time of the settlement, Symsyk pointed to the RCMP’s Anti-Fraud Centre's year-on-year increase in losses to fraud — $624 million in 2024, $704 million in 2025 and $351 million in the first half of 2026 (as of end of June).

It's one of many larger societal issues that FACTOR has found itself embroiled in as it aims to fulfill its mission of supporting Canadian music and culture.

"This past year reinforced that periods of disruption often reveal our greatest strengths," writes Stingray Radio's Josie Fenech, head of FACTOR's board of directors, in another letter in the annual report about why FACTOR's remains vital. "Economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, rapid technological change and an increasingly complex global landscape have continued to reshape the environment in which artists create and audiences discover music. Yet throughout these challenges, Canada’s music community has demonstrated remarkable resilience, creativity and determination."