David Baazov, chief executive of Amaya – owner of the PokerStars and Full Tilt brands - has been charged with insider trading by the Canadian securities authority, Autorité des Marchés Minanciers.
The charge is that Baazov used “privileged information” to influence or attempting to influence the market price of Amaya securities, when trading shares between December 2013 and June 2014
The insider trading allegedly took place during the acquisition by Amaya of the Oldford Group for $4.9bn
Baazov said he would “vigorously contest” the charges.
“These allegations are false and I intend to vigorously contest these accusations,” he said. “While I am deeply disappointed with the AMF’s decision, I am highly confident I will be found innocent of all charges."
Amaya said in a statement that it “does not anticipate the charges will have any impact on the management or day-to-day affairs of the operating business.
“Operations continue as usual and there will be no change to the PokerStars or Full Tilt product offerings, either in customer experience, player fund security or game integrity.”
Despite these assurances, Amaya's share price fell more than 20 per cent on the news.
