{"id":39741,"date":"2016-09-16T17:33:01","date_gmt":"2016-09-17T00:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=39741"},"modified":"2016-10-12T15:24:51","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T22:24:51","slug":"david-baazovs-lawyers-grills-amf-says-case-full-of-holes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/david-baazovs-lawyers-grills-amf-says-case-full-of-holes\/","title":{"rendered":"David Baazov’s Lawyer Grills AMF, Claims Regulator’s Case Is Full of Holes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Amaya CEO David Baazov\u2019s<\/a> ongoing insider trading case received a two-day independent administrative hearing this week in Montreal, and it brought up some strange twists and turns, however you look at it.<\/p>\n

\"david-baazov-lawyer-sophie-melchers-amf-case\"
David Baazov\u2019s lawyer Sophie Melchers has accused Quebec financial regulator AMF of a case against her client that she says is full of omissions and flaws, and based on \u201cselective information.\u201d (Image: nortonrosefullbright.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In hearings this week, which none of the accused were required to attend, Baazov\u2019s lawyer\u00a0Sophie Melchers, questioned AMF investigators for the first time. Under cross-examination, the AMF\u2019s Xavier Saint-Pierre was forced to admit that all evidence gathered against Baazov to date was purely circumstantial.<\/p>\n

Melchers further asserted that the AMF case was filled with \u201comission and flaws\u201d and based on \u201cselective information.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was the first step in setting the record straight,\u201d said Baazov in a statement made via a spokesman. \u201cI would like to reiterate that I did not receive any money, gifts or anything for that matter as it relates to the trading by any of these people in any securities. I look forward to being exonerated and putting this behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Back Story<\/h2>\n

In March, Baazov, along with two others, were charged by the Quebec financial regulator AMF<\/a> 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

\n

More recently, court documents filed by the regulator have alleged Baazov was at the tip of a pyramid of information-sharing that had a \u201chigh level of organization and sophistication.\u201d The AMF believes that he, along with his brother Josh and longtime associate Craig Levett, a former Amaya consultant, received kickbacks for imparting illicit stock market tips.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This was an arrangement that was \u201cnegotiated before the offenses,\u201d claims the AMF, and typically amounted to 10 percent of net profits. The group, which comprises 13 other close friends and family members, is believed to have made around $1.5 million over a five-year period.<\/p>\n

The hearings also revealed that in June, the AMF had raided a Chabad organization in Montreal in connection with the case, believing it had been used as a money laundering channel by the group. The regulator seized $66,000 from the Orthodox Jewish Hasidic organization, which they found in the car of its director, Rabbi Shalom Chriqui.<\/p>\n

The Case of the Missing Cellphone<\/h2>\n

It also came to light that the AMF may have made a major blunder when it stormed Amaya\u2019s headquarters in Quebec in December 2014. While officers seized computers and email and phone records, they failed to obtain Baazov\u2019s cellphone. When they returned, having realized their mistake, the AMF claims they found he had replaced it with a new one. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Amaya CEO David Baazov\u2019s ongoing insider trading case received a two-day independent administrative hearing this week in Montreal, and it brought up some strange twists and turns, however you look at it. In hearings this week, which none of the accused were required to attend, Baazov\u2019s lawyer\u00a0Sophie Melchers, questioned AMF investigators for the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":39749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,10,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDavid Baazov's Lawyers Grills AMF, Says Case Full of Holes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The David Baazov insider trading case was addressed in an AMF hearing, where his attorney said the case was full of omissions.\" \/>\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-baazovs-lawyers-grills-amf-says-case-full-of-holes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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