French stock market regulators Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) have accused Ubisoft of selling stock by virtue of insider knowledge from within the French publisher.
These allegations were levelled against Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat and four other Ubi executives, and date back to October 15, 2013, at which point the company officially announced that both The Crew and Watch Dogs would be pushed into 2014. As a result, Ubisoft’s stock dropped by around 25 percent.
AMF’s report then claims that Mallat and other Ubisoft executives sold their stock based on this knowledge, thereby violating French laws of insider trading. Mallat has since stated he had no such knowledge, while an official statement from Ubisoft outright denies any malpractice.
Per Kotaku:
Ubisoft is aware that an action being brought by the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) involves five of our team members. Those individuals vigorously dispute their implication in this matter and the AMF’s interpretation of the facts. Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and CEO of Ubisoft, does not question the good faith of the people involved and has reassured them that they have his full support and trust.
These proceedings revolve around Ubisoft’s temporary stock market drop in the fall of 2013, after it was announced that Watch Dogs and The Crew would be delayed. The French AMF is alleging that before the announcement the team members in question may have sold securities while being in possession of insider information. The proceedings will continue in November at the Commission des Sanctions (sanctions board) in Paris. Ubisoft itself has not been charged by the AMF.
Moreover, three of the Canadian team members implicated in the AMF’s action today filed a motion with the Superior Court of Québec demanding that the procedure be declared invalid and seeking damages against AMF France and AMF Québec.
What do our readers make of both AMF’s allegations and the subsequent response from Ubisoft? Do let us know.
