French stock market regulators have accused five Ubisoft executives of selling stock based on inside knowledge, an accusation that the video game publisher steadfastly denies.




The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), France’s stock market regulator, alleges that Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat and four other Ubisoft executives all sold stock in the weeks before October 15, 2013, when the publisher announced that Watch Dogs and The Crew would both be delayed to 2014. As a result of this delay, the value of Ubisoft stock dropped by around 25%.

The AMF alleges that Mallat and other Ubisoft executives knew about the delay when selling their stock, violating French laws of insider trading. (Ubisoft HQ is based in Paris, France.) In an interview, Mallat told the Canadian newspaper La Presse that he had no such insider knowledge.


When contacted by Kotaku today, Ubisoft sent over a lengthy statement: