On November 10, three men, one of them holding a senior manager position at LeoVegas, were arrested on charges of insider trading in connection with US casino behemoth MGM Resorts International’s acquisition of Swedish mobile gaming company LeoVegas which took place at the end of August 2022.
The Investigation Has Been Going on Since June 2022
An investigation was started by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority in June after a suspicious LeoVegas share purchase took place just before the announcement of the upcoming acquisition by MGM Resorts International.
After the official announcement of the deal, LeoVegas stock surged by 40% so anyone who bought shares in the company just before that made a significant profit.
The Authority conducted a raid at LeoVegas Stockholm headquarters. A search was carried out but no one was arrested at the time.
LeoVegas announced in a press release that they are fully cooperating with the authorities, however, no employee, board, or management member was under any suspicion.
Since then, the investigation has continued quietly – and has now reached a breakthrough with the arrest of three people. Only one of them has direct connections to the Swedish gaming company.
Only One of the Arrested Men Has Direct Connections with LeoVegas
The three men were arrested due to suspicions of insider trading in the period from February 1 to April 29, just before the official announcement of the MGM acquisition of LeoVegas made on May 2.
Only one of the men holds a top position at LeoVegas. He is the one that had insider price-sensitive information, which he is suspected of leaking out to third parties.
The other two men, which were arrested as well, are suspected of trading with LeoVegas shares having insider information. The share trading that the suspected trio is linked to prior to the announcement has generated millions in profits.
The takeover bid was announced on May 2. LeoVegas’ share price surged 40% on the same day so the profit of buying shares the Friday before that was also that high.
The three arrested suspects have stated they have not committed any crime. The LeoVegas employee has said that he denies any wrongdoing and hopes that this misunderstanding will soon be cleared up.
The prosecutor also made a statement noting that the investigation is still ongoing and currently there is no suspicion against anyone else employed by LeoVegas.
Additionally, LeoVegas issued a statement saying that they are aware of the arrest highlighting that the arrested employee is not a member of the management team or the board of directors.