The US based Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), is investigating Toronto listed Amaya Gaming with regards to potential insider trading. The probe relates to Amaya Gaming’s rapid stock rising prior to the announcement of its $4.9 billion acquisition of the Rational Group (PokerStars and Full Tilt).
FINRA who aim to protect investors by monitoring financial trading and securities industries, is said to be focusing on 300 early round Amaya investors who made vast sums of profit in the build up to the Rational Group acquisition.
FINRA are concerned that the early investors had privileged information regarding Amaya Gaming acquisition of Rational Group, as the company share price rose rapidly in the weeks prior to the announcement.
Amaya Gaming stock shot up by nearly 14 percent in one day alone; the Friday before the rumours were first publicized in the media. In fact, between the release of its Q1 financial report and the day of the announcement, the price almost doubled.
Amaya have not made a corporate statement on the FINRA probe, however CEO David Baazov stated to OnlinePokerReport.com that the investigation was something that the company expected due to the circumstances of its acquisition of Rational Group, which saw a historical stock run-up.