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Cowpland Reacts to Insider Trader Charges
adraken writes "Wired is reporting on the recent charges filed against Corel CEO, Michael Cowpland. Cowpland replied to the charges, "Obviously it's upsetting. And that's why I've been putting a lot of energy into proving my side is right in this situation. But, nevertheless, it's not distracting because I'm convinced there's nothing been done that's wrong -- and that will show up." The article goes into an indepth look at Cowpland and his life. "
Since this is a big ol' Canadian brouhaha, try the CBC for more details:
http://www.cbcnews.cbcHere's some quotes that provide a much better factual detail of what he did:
After Corel's results were released in September 1997, the average closing price of Corel stock over the next month was $5.57 - almost $3 below the $8.47 average price Cowpland had received when he sold in August.
This suggests Cowpland made $7 million more than he would have by selling when he did, rather than after the results were released.
The stock sale represented almost one-third of Cowpland's 7.9 million shares he owned in the company.
Slashdot is entertaining like pro wrestling is entertaining
"there's nothing done that's wrong" said he, which is an interesting way of phrasing it. Not "I didn't do it" but "it wasn't wrong." so this is probably going to be a letter-of-the-law defense.
Whether that's good or bad is for people more qualified than I to say.
Oh, yeah: one thing. This wife is "[k]nown for her dyed blonde locks and revealing outfits". How many people out there are/know a female who's known for her hair colour?
> If guilty, he faces up to two years in jail, a
> fine of up to C$1 million (US$1.48 million),
> and also possible payment of three times any
> profit made.
I'd like to point out that C$1 million is more like US$681 thousand (US$ > C$).
As soon as you're born you start dying
He is being careful with what he says alright. But he probably has nothing to worry about. The securities laws in Canada are a sick joke and the regulatory agencies are lapdogs to the securities industry. Unless the regulators execute a search warrant and find a to-do list in your hand writing that has "3) do insider trading today" checked off you are probably ok. :-O
In a famous incident, a mining company exec "A" was buddy of a former premier of British Columbia we will refer to "B". A deal for an American company to acquire this mining concern falls through and A places a phone call to B. B hangs up the phone, calls his broker and dumps all his holdings in A's company. Within hours the failed acquisition becomes public and the value of A's company's stock falls precipitously. "B" manages to avoid losses on the order of a million bucks. Both the regulatory agencies in BC and Ontario were unable to convict either A or B on insider trading! B claims that the phone call from A was just to discuss weather, sports etc. I think there was an just recently an out of court settlement to end the investigation.
It may sound weird to an American who is used to being careful with securities regulations, but I actually envy you with your SEC. They might sometimes act like Nazis but at least a**holes like Mike Cowpland would have to be a lot less brazen when they hose (or appear to hose) their investors.
1. His alleged crime was to sell stock before announcing worse than expected profits, a case of insider dealing.
2. No-one was sure whether or not he announced his sale, and what period of notice was given.
3. The stock has risen 25% since the disputed sale.
Does anyone have any new information to add to the above? The above doesn't look exactly damning...