Accused Hail Court's Decision to Throw Out Charges

Altman, Baazov and Adhoot applaud Quebec Court Decision

TORONTO, June 6, 2018 /CNW/ - It's over. 

A Québec Court judge found that the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) made "repeated errors" and showed "lack of rigour" and therefore threw out the regulator's prosecution. Judge Salvatore Mascia, in a stunning ruling, found that the Québec securities regulator had failed to disclose evidence to the three accused men and he had no choice but to stay the charges. 

"When the circumstances justify it, the courts must stay the proceedings. This is only to be used in the most dramatic cases. There must be no other acceptable solution that might right the wrongs," said Mascia. 

He continued: "In this case, do the accumulation of mistakes require a stay of proceedings?  Yes."

The trial involving former Amaya CEO David Baazov and his co-accused, Benjamin Ahdoot and Yoel Altman, got underway in Montréal in April.  From the outset, defence lawyers raised objections about their inability to review millions of documents handed over by the securities regulator, and about the confusion and chaos that characterized the AMF's case. 

The early weeks of trial were marked by shocking missteps and mistakes by the AMF – including errors about privileged documents, contradictory evidence, and even demands by the AMF that the three men return documents that the AMF had disclosed to them months before.

"We agree with the judge and are happy with the decision," the three men said, adding they will have no further comment at this time.

SOURCE Daisy Consulting Group

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