After two years of proceedings and talks, the Canadian court has set a trial date for the trial against former Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov.
Trial Date Set
Judge Claude Leblond has set a start date for a trial against David Baazov and his two co-defendants. The trial is set to begin on November 20 and expected to take about 13 weeks to reach its end.
The attorneys for the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) claim that this will be the “largest insider trading investigation in Canadian history”. They plan to call around 50 witnesses. Employees of Amaya’s investment bank, Canaccord Genuity Securities and at least one previously unnamed informant will testify.
Expect a Lengthy Trial
The trail will not only be prolonged by the large number of witnesses. It will be held in French as the case is a penal proceeding under Quebec’s securities act.
Judge Leblond stated that there will be an attempt to seat a bilingual judge so that the translations won’t waste additional time. The evidence in this case will be presented in English which could add additional time to the trial.
Largest Online Gaming Transaction in the Industry’s History
The case against Baazov dates back to 2014 when the largest online gaming transaction in the industry’s history took place.
Baazov lead Amaya Gaming in the process of buying out, back than privately owned, PokerStars. Negotiations between Amaya and the Scheinberg family ware swift and ended in a $4,9 billion transaction. After the transaction, Amaya became the sole owner of PokerStars online operations and all other properties.
David Baazov, Benjamin Ahdoot and Yoel Altman allegedly used insider information about the acquisition to gain an unfair advantage on the stock market.
In addition to charges of insider trading and attempting to alter the fair market price of Amaya’s stock Baazov is also faced with charges of communication of privileged information.
Although the court has set the trial date, there is still a possibility of AMF and the defendants striking a deal. Baazov and his co-defendants face huge fines and potential jail time if convicted.
