AMF Sanctions MND, Director, & Advisors for Market Abuse

Key Takeaways

• €1.89M in Total Fines: The AMF Enforcement Committee fined eight individuals and two legal entities a combined €1,890,000 for breaches including insider dealing, late disclosure of inside information, and professional misconduct.
• MND and Director Sanctioned: Ski infrastructure firm MND was fined €500,000, and its director Xavier Gallot-Lavallée €250,000, for failing to promptly disclose four pieces of inside information between 2017 and 2020.
• Insider Dealing Found: Seven individuals and Cougar Invest were found to have traded on non-public information related to MND projects.
• Permanent Ban for Advisors: Cougar Invest and its director Jean-François Bertrand were permanently banned from operating as financial investment advisors due to professional failings.
• Insider List Failures: MND was also cited for not properly maintaining and updating insider lists, as required under market abuse regulations.

Deep Dive

France’s financial markets watchdog has imposed a total of €1,890,000 in fines on eight individuals and two legal entities, including ski infrastructure developer MND and its director, for a series of serious market abuse violations ranging from late disclosure of inside information to insider trading and breaches of professional obligations.

The decision, issued by the Enforcement Committee of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) on July 9, centers around misconduct that occurred between 2017 and 2020. MND (formerly Montagne & Neige Développement), which designs and manages ski resorts and mountain infrastructure, was fined €500,000 for failing to promptly disclose four separate pieces of inside information related to major resort projects and their financing. Its director, Xavier Gallot-Lavallée, was personally fined €250,000 for his role in the delay.

At the time, MND was listed on Euronext Paris Compartment C and subsequently on Euronext Growth.

The AMF Committee found that the company withheld market-moving updates involving the progress and funding of multiple ski resort initiatives. These lapses in transparency, the Committee said, violated MND’s obligation to disclose such information “as soon as possible” under EU market abuse rules.

Beyond disclosure failures, the Committee determined that seven individuals and one financial advisory firm, Cougar Invest, engaged in insider dealing based on confidential project-related information. Those sanctioned include Jacques Simoncini, Mikaël Nacivet, Laurent-Olivier Orset, Huseyin Cetinkaya, Jean-François Bertrand, Philippe Gaillard, and Harry-Davidson Ayache. Penalties for these parties ranged from €15,000 to €400,000.

Cougar Invest, a financial investment advisor, and its manager Jean-François Bertrand were also penalized for failing to meet their professional obligations. As a result, both have been permanently banned from operating as financial investment advisors. The AMF Committee further found that MND failed to maintain and update insider lists for the relevant confidential information, another breach of its regulatory duties.

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