{"id":101537,"date":"2019-03-27T15:56:09","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T22:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=101537"},"modified":"2019-03-27T15:56:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T22:56:09","slug":"david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Amaya Founder David Baazov Sues Quebec Securities Regulator for $2 Million for Malicious Prosecution"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Baazov was once the golden boy of the online gaming industry. Now, he is suing Quebec financial regulator, AMF, over its failed attempted<\/a> to prosecute him for securities fraud.<\/p>\n

\"David
David Baazov believes he was \u201cabusively\u201d prosecuted by the AMF on flimsy securities fraud charges and is offering to donate any damages received to Montreal-based charities. (Image: picswe.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The founder and former CEO of PokerStars parent Amaya — which changed its name to The Stars Group following Baazov\u2019s departure under a cloud of ignominy — has launched a C$2-million lawsuit ($1.49 million) against the regulator.<\/p>\n

Baazov\u2019s filing last week calls the prosecution \u201cabusive\u201d and \u201cmalicious,\u201d and says that any damages won will be donated to charity.<\/p>\n

Rise and Fall<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2013, Baazov engineered the audacious, highly-leveraged takeover of the world\u2019s biggest online poker site, PokerStars, by Amaya Gaming, then a relatively unknown, mainly B2B online gaming supplier. The deal transformed Amaya into one of the biggest online gambling companies in the world.<\/p>\n

The high-school dropout from Montreal was hailed as \u201cthe King of Online Gaming\u201d by financial media outlets like Forbes<\/em> and Bloomberg<\/em>. He was only 34.<\/p>\n

But suspicious movements in Amaya\u2019s stock in the months leading up to the announcement of the acquisition caught the eye of the AMF.<\/p>\n

\n

On December 11, 2014, AMF agents raided Amaya\u2019s Montreal headquarters, seizing computers and electronic security devices from three Amaya officials, including Baazov and chief financial officer, Daniel Sebag.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In March 2016, Baazov was charged with five counts of securities fraud, including \u201caiding 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Botched Case<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The AMF accused Baazov<\/a> of being the \u201ctip of an insider trading pyramid,\u201d disseminating details about forthcoming M&A activity to a select group of friends and family who were alleged to have enriched themselves from illegal stock deals.<\/p>\n

Baazov vigorously denied all the allegations against him, but his culpability was never truly established because the AMF botched the prosecution. In early hearings, defense lawyers described the case as \u201cspeculation\u201d and \u201cdistorted,\u201d and AMF investigators admitted under cross-questioning that it was purely circumstantial.<\/p>\n

In June last year, the judge stayed the case against Baazov, citing “repeated errors \u2026 a lack of rigour” and “laxism” on the part of the AMF. These errors included the accidental dumping by the prosecution of 320,000 privileged documents onto defense lawyers, before sheepishly asking for them back.<\/p>\n

Echoing Baazov\u2019s words several years earlier, AMF spokesman Sylvain Theberge called the fallen online gambling king\u2019s case \u201cunfounded\u201d and said the agency planned to \u201cvigorously defend itself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Baazov was once the golden boy of the online gaming industry. Now, he is suing Quebec financial regulator, AMF, over its failed attempted to prosecute him for securities fraud. The founder and former CEO of PokerStars parent Amaya — which changed its name to The Stars Group following Baazov\u2019s departure under a cloud of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":101541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10,19,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDavid Baazov Sues Quebec Securities Regulator for $2 Million<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"David Baazov, once the King of Online Gaming, is suing the Quebec securities regulator AMF for $2 million in the wake of its failed attempt to prosecute him for securities fraud.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"David Baazov Sues Quebec Securities Regulator for $2 Million\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"David Baazov, once the King of Online Gaming, is suing the Quebec securities regulator AMF for $2 million in the wake of its failed attempt to prosecute him for securities fraud.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-27T22:56:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/baazov.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/\",\"name\":\"David Baazov Sues Quebec Securities Regulator for $2 Million\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/baazov.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-27T22:56:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-27T22:56:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"David Baazov, once the King of Online Gaming, is suing the Quebec securities regulator AMF for $2 million in the wake of its failed attempt to prosecute him for securities fraud.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazov-sues-quebec-securities-regulator-for-2-million\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/baazov.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/baazov.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":629,\"caption\":\"David Baazov believes he was \u201cabusively\u201d prosecuted by the AMF on flimsy charges of securities fraud and is offering to donate any damages reward to Montreal-based charities. 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He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. 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