Isn’t it always the way..? You’ve just got done spending nearly $550m to the US Department of Justice to clean up that inconvenient issue of offering online poker in the US for years after the government made it illegal to take payments in connection with illegal gambling through the Internet (although of course you’ve admitted no wrong doing). You are two days into operating legally in a regulated market under the same name in the State of New Jersey; the company you have championed will be “trusted by its customers for its robust and innovative technology, world-class security and game integrity,” and you find yourself slapped with 5 charges relating to the acquisition of PokerStars.
I mean, we’ve all been there, right?
Or not.
But this is the predicament the man previously described as ‘The King of Online Gambling’ by Forbes magazine finds himself in this morning. David Baazov, the CEO of Amaya, one of, if not the biggest online gaming facilitators, is under investigation by Quebec’s security regulator, the AMF or Autorité des Marchés Financiers to give them their full and far cooler sounding annotation, for alleged insider trading. Charges railed against Baazov, as well as an employee and advisor include “aiding with 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.”
Naturally enough Baazov denies any wrongdoing. That’s kind of a default setting of course and understandably so. Immediately he has gone on record saying, “These allegations are false and I intend to vigorously contest these accusations” and how he is “highly confident [he] will be found innocent of all charges.” But the immediate fall out is going to hurt, no matter the long-term outcome with Amaya shares halted on Wednesday and no immediate resumption yet announced.
