Quebec's securities regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) have filed insider trading charges against Amaya CEO David Baazov and 13 others, including Baazov's brother and Amaya adviser Yoel Altman. In total, 5 charges were made against David Baazov following an investigation of the $4.9 billion acquisition of PokerStars and Full Tilt by Amaya in 2014.
According to a statement by AMF, Baazov is facing these charges "for aiding trades while in possession of privileged information, influencing or attempting to influence the market price of the securities of Amaya Inc, and communicating privileged information."
High Stakes DB reports that "a profit in the range of $1.5 million is alleged to have been earned on the transactions in question made between 2011 and 2016."
"These allegations are false and I intend to vigorously contest these accusations. While I am deeply disappointed with the AMF's decision, I am highly confident I will be found innocent of all charges," Baazov said in a statement.
"David Baazov has the full support of the independent members of the board," said Dave Gadhia, Amaya's Lead Director and independent board member, and the former Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Inc. "As noted previously, Amaya conducted an external internal review, supervised by its independent board members with the assistance of external legal counsel from Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Canada and Greenberg Traurig LLP in the U.S., which thoroughly reviewed the relevant internal activities surrounding the Oldford Group acquisition. This review found no evidence of any violations of Canadian securities laws or regulations. The independent members of the board received and reviewed the information and concluded that no action should be taken. We have not been provided with any new information upon which the AMF's allegations of infractions are based."
source: pokernews and highstakesdb
