Amaya Gaming’s former CEO David Baazov has some new walking around money after selling nearly one-third of his stake in the online gambling company. On Tuesday, Baazov (pictured) announced that he’d sold 7m Amaya common shares at C$19 apiece for a total consideration of C$133m (US $99m). The sale represents about 4.8% of the company’s outstanding common shares and about 30% of Baazov’s holdings in Amaya, the parent company of online poker giant PokerStars. Baazov still controls roughly 17.6m Amaya shares, equal to 12.1% of the company. The market applauded the move, pushing Amaya’s stock price up 5.8% to C$20.06,…

David Baazov, former CEO of Montreal online gaming firm Amaya, benefited from a kickback scheme in which he received payments in exchange for sharing privileged information about company acquisitions with friends and their families, Quebec’s securities regulator alleges. The allegations against Baazov, charged earlier this year following an investigation into accusations of insider trading, are contained in an amended 105-page document that L’Autorite des marches financiers (AMF) filed with the independent tribunal overseeing Quebec’s financial sector. “Several sophisticated agreements were negotiated even before the infractions were committed to pay kickbacks to the tipsters,” alleges the document. The document was filed…

David Baazov, the embattled CEO of Canadian online gambling company Amaya Gaming, has pled not guilty to the insider trading charges filed against him in March. On Monday, Quebec securities regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) confirmed that Baazov (pictured), two other individuals and three companies had formally filed written pleas of ‘not guilty’ to their combined 23 insider trading charges, each of which carries a maximum fine of up to $5m and up to five years in prison. AMF spokesman Sylvain Theberge told the Canadian Press that the guilty pleas had been received over the past couple weeks and…

The CEO of Montreal online gaming company Amaya has been charged after an investigation into insider trading by Quebec’s stock market watchdog. David Baazov faces five charges, including influencing or attempting to influence the market price of the securities of Amaya and communicating privileged information. “These allegations are false and I intend to vigorously contest these accusations,” Baazov said in a statement Wednesday. “While I am deeply disappointed with the (Autorite des marches financiers) decision, I am highly confident I will be found innocent of all charges.” He was charged as part of an investigation by the AMF that resulted…

Amaya Inc based out of Canada, was a relatively unknown company until it surprised everyone in the poker industry in June 2014, when it confirmed that it had successfully acquired PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. PokerStars is the biggest online poker website in the world and has upheld that status after being acquired by Amaya Gaming for $4.9 billion. Since then the company has continued to stay in the news as it rolled out a number of strategic and operational changes. The billion dollar acquisition drew a lot of attention from the authorities who wanted to know if the proper…