New investor class action filed against Amaya

Online gambling group Amaya’s troubles mounted on April 4, when one Michael Neuberger filed a new class action in the Manhattan Federal Court – the second such litigation this year – claiming that the value of investors’ shares in the company has been adversely impacted by insider trading investigations involving company executive David Baazov (see previous reports).

The publication Courthouse News reports that Baazov has denied any wrongdoing, but the issue remains active with Quebec securities regulator Autorité des marchés financiers, and continues to affect Amaya and principal operational subsidiaries like Pokerstars and Full Tilt.

The Neuberger filing asserts that the mere accusations of wrong-doing have caused the value of Amaya shares to plummet 20 percent, and that Baazov and co-defendant Amaya CFO Daniel Sebag misled investors by failing to disclose that the CEO “was engaged in an insider trading scheme that involved influencing the market price of the company’s securities and communicating privileged information to third parties.”

When the news of the charges broke, and Amaya’s chief executive temporarily suspended himself, the share price fell $3.07 per share, more than 21 percent, on heavy trading volume.

Courthouse News links the new filing to the recent leak of the so-called Panama Papers, which detail the use of shell companies worldwide, and reveals a possible link between Amaya and a British Virgin Islands company called Zhapa Holdings.

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