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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. "
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.