AMF Enforcement Committee Imposes €4150000 in Fines on Four Entities

On December 11, 2024, the AMF Enforcement Committee made a decision to impose fines totaling €4,150,000 on four legal entities and three individuals for disseminating false or misleading information and engaging in price manipulation.

Auplata and its former CEO, Didier Tamagno, along with RSM Paris and Stéphane Marie, the auditors who certified Auplata’s financial statements, were fined between €50,000 and €300,000 for market manipulation through false information dissemination. Additionally, Pierre Vannineuse, European High Growth Opportunities Manco SA, and Alpha Blue Ocean Inc. were fined between €1,000,000 and €1,500,000 for manipulating the Auplata share price.

The violations stemmed from a finance agreement Auplata had with the EHGO SF fund in October 2017. The Committee found that Auplata’s press release regarding this agreement did not accurately represent the financing costs, leading to false or misleading information. The failure to disclose key clauses in the agreement and the omission of earn-out payments in the financial statements were attributed to Mr. Tamagno.

Furthermore, RSM Paris, Auplata’s auditors, were penalized for certifying the inaccurate financial statements. The EHGO SF fund was also found to have violated its agreements by selling a significant number of Auplata shares against the terms of their retention and daily sale limits. This behavior was deemed as price manipulation by European High Growth Opportunities Manco SA.