David Baazov is facing off against one of Canada’s financial watchdogs as they look further and further
into the allegations that are piling up against the Amaya Chief Executive about rumors regarding inside trading. Evidence into the truth behind these allegations is stacking up and goes back as far as six years, showing a train of illegal deals and kickback patterns.
The La Presse newspaper, written in French, announced that the Autorite Des Marches Financiers has been digging into the case and has revealed that there have been “multiple agreements” that have been completed under the table between Mr. Baazov as well as a number of individuals. Some of these other people include Baazov’s older brother Josh, as well as a previous business partner that had worked alongside him named Craig Levett. These trades were completed as “payment of dividends” and were done through luxury item payments, checks, as well as direct cash payments.
The regulator that is completing the investigation into this case has stated that this is far from just giving out gifts. These were trade deals that had a high amount of organization and planning that went into each deal before they were finished. Email conversations showed that the specifics of each transaction so that the people that were involved in the deal could figure out how much they were going to be paid out for the deal in terms of commission.
David Baazov holds the highest stakes in the company as the biggest stakeholder in the company, as he currently owns 24.5 million shares which equates to about 17% of the current stock of the company. He ended up dismissing himself and resigning after taking a month of unpaid vacation time during March. This is most likely due to the charges being pressed against him, as he currently faces five charges that allege inside trading. Part of this results from the company’s purchasing of Rational Group under the price tag of $4.9 billion, as he was alleged of using private information while trading shares with the company between 2013 and 2014.
Alongside all of this, La Presse released information regarding an email that had been dated back in June of 2014 that showed an inside trade deal between Isam Mansour and Baazov. The deal in the email gave a 10% kickback in terms of profits after taxes and costs. This deal was made right before the company bought out Rational Group.
Going a bit deeper, the report also showed that deals had started as early as 2013 when the company went on to purchase WMS Industries at the cost of $1.5 billion with a deal locked down through Scientific Games Co. Through the cooperation of various people such as Baazov’s wife and brother, Levett had made trades creating profits in excess of $170,000 and had sent an email to Josh Baazov saying that he owed money to his brother and would have a check for him prepared.
As the evidence mounts up we can assume there will be a case ready against Bazzov in the near future.
