NEW YORK, March 31 (Reuters) - Amaya Inc AYA.TO was sued
on Thursday by a U.S. investor who accused the Canadian gambling
website operator of defrauding shareholders by concealing
insider trading conducted by its chief executive.
In a proposed class-action complaint filed in the U.S.
District Court in Manhattan, the plaintiff, Harvey Weisman, said
Amaya should have revealed trades made by Chief Executive David
Baazov, and failed to properly disclose deficiencies in its
internal controls.
Weisman, who lives in Maryland, said Amaya's share price was
inflated while Baazov's trades were concealed.
His lawsuit seeks to recoup losses for investors who bought
Amaya shares between June 8, 2015, and March 23, 2016.
Baazov and Daniel Sebag, Amaya's chief financial officer,
were also named as defendants. The Pointe-Claire, Quebec-based
company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Amaya's shares tumbled last week after Quebec's securities
regulator, l'Autorité des Marchés Financiers, charged Baazov
with insider trading, stemming from a probe that followed
Amaya's 2014 purchase of the owner of PokerStars.
The company's U.S.-listed shares, which trade on the Nasdaq,
fell 21.5 percent on March 23, while its Canadian shares fell
20.6 percent that day, Reuters data shows.
Amaya announced on March 29 that Baazov was taking an
indefinite paid leave of absence.
It is common for U.S. securities fraud lawsuits to be filed
against companies whose share prices tumble after negative news
becomes public.
The case is Weisman v Amaya Inc et al, U.S. District Court,
Southern District of New York, No. 16-02406.