The Autorité des marchés financiers, the securities regulator of the Quebec province, revealed on Monday that David Baazov, former Chairman and CEO of Canadian gambling giant Amaya Inc., as well as two associates of his and three other companies have pleaded not guilty to a number of charges, including insider trading, placed by the said regulator in March.
The announcement about the charges against Mr. Baazov and the other respondents came after the AMF had carried out an investigation into allegations about the use of privileged information about Amaya in the period from December 2013 to June 2014. Shortly after the said announcement, the businessman took an indefinite leave from his posts as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the online gaming company that he had himself found.
Mr. Baazov alone was charged with five different offences. According to the AMF, the businessman had aided with trades while in possession of classified information about the gaming company, had influenced or had tried to influence Amaya securities’ market price, and had communicated confidential company information over the above-mentioned period.
Following the AMF investigation, which according to local media, was the largest of that kind in Canada, there were 23 different charges against Mr. Baazov and his associates – Benjamin Ahdoot and Yoel Altman as well as against three companies, with those being 2374879 Ontario Inc., Diocles Capital Inc., and Sababa Consulting Inc.
All accused parties have pleaded not guilty to the allegations, AMF spokesperson Sylvain Theberge said on Monday.
Mr. Ahdoot and Mr. Altman have four and six charges against them, respectively. The two respondents had allegedly traded while possessing privileged information about the company and had attempted to influence Amaya securities’ market price.
Diocles Capital is facing five charges for trading while possessing classified information and attempting to influence the market price of the company’s securities. Sababa Consulting Inc. and 2374879 Ontario Inc. as many as three charges, quite similar to the those of the rest of the respondents.
The AMF spokesperson explained on Monday that the penalties for such charges are between $5,000 and $5 million per charge as well as up to five years in prison.
