The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the French stock market regulators, are accusing five Ubisoft executives of selling stock based on inside knowledge. Ubisoft has denied claims that insider trading occurred.
Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat and four other Ubisoft executives have been accused of selling stock in the weeks prior to October 15, 2013, when the publisher announced the delays of Watch Dogsand The Crew. Ubisoft stock dropped around 25 percent.
Kotaku contacted Ubisoft for a response:
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.
