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Five Ubisoft execs accused of insider trading by French stock market

Avoiding 25% stock drop in 2013

Five Ubisoft execs accused of insider trading by French stock market

Five Ubisoft execs have been accused of insider trading by the French stock market, including the CEO of Ubisoft Montreal.

As reported by Kotaku, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) claims the executives sold stock in the weeks before the delay of two major titles was announced in 2013.

As a result of the delay Ubisoft stock dropped 25%. The AMF is accusing the execs of using their knowledge of the delays to avoid losing money on their sales, which violates French trading laws.

Vigourously denied

"Ubisoft is aware that an action being brought by the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) involves five of our team members," said Ubisoft in a statement.

"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.

"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."

Ubisoft has not been charged by the AMF as yet. Proceedings will continue on into November.


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Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.