Insider-trading accused distances himself from Watson
There are no allegations of fact to support any kind of relationship between Watson and Giguiere at all.
Giguiere’s lawyers
An alleged co-conspirator in the insider trading case against Eric Watson has tried distancing himself from the controversial New Zealand businessman, court filings show.
In 2021 United States regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission filed complaints against Watson, Oliver Barret Lindsay and Gannon Giguiere alleging the trio used inside information to trading shares in Long Island Iced Tea Corp ahead of its highprofile 2017 rebrand into Long Blockchain.
Watson has previously told the Herald he strenuously denies the allegations. This week he did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this year Lindsay elected not to contest the case, formally neither admitting nor denying the complaint, but agreeing to pay a yetto-be determined penalty. The settlement also prevented Lindsay from making any public statement saying he did not admit the allegations, or suggest they were without factual foundation.
Lawyers for Giguiere have signalled a motion to dismiss the SEC complaint against their client and downplayed any relationship with Watson. “There are no allegations of fact to support any kind of relationship between Watson and Giguiere at all,” his lawyers said in a letter to the court.
The alleged chain of insider information flowed from Watson to Lindsay and then Giguiere, but the latter’s lawyers questioned this narrative.
“The threadbare allegations that Lindsay and Watson were ‘friends’ simply because they had dinner once, and they exchanged calls and text messages in connection with [Long Blockchain] are insufficient to support the inference that Watson gave Lindsay inside information ‘to provide the equivalent of a cash gift’,” Giguiere’s lawyers said.
The letter also focused on the lack of trading in Long Blockchain shares by Watson, claiming it meant he gained no benefit from the alleged inside information.
Lawyers for the SEC pushed back against Giguiere’s criticism, flagging it would oppose the motion to dismiss and reaffirming its assessment that the relationship between the trio was more than just professional.
“Lindsay frequently described Watson as his source of [Long Blockchain] information and as ‘the guy behind the deal,’ and the ‘guy who put the deal together’,” SEC lawyers said.
“As the Complaint alleges, Watson and Lindsay had a quid pro quo relationship . . . The commission has alleged that Watson intended to benefit his friend Lindsay by giving him a tip that he told Lindsay could trade to his advantage.”
Giguiere is slated to file a full argument to dismiss the complaint against him later this month, with the court considering the matter towards the end of the year.
Court filings show Watson has yet to be served by the SEC, despite having enlisted Spanish authorities to find him at his reported residence in Ibiza and mulling the employment of a private investigator. Earlier this year the courts granted the SEC the right of substituted service allowing them to instead advertise an appeal to Watson in the New York Times.
Similar issues over Watson’s whereabouts have arisen for the liquidation of Watson’s Cullen Group of companies in New Zealand.
KPMG were appointed to a cluster of Watson’s companies from late 2019 on behalf of Inland Revenue who were seeking to recover more than $112m in back-taxes and interest.
That debt arose after the High Court ruled Watson complex restructuring via the Cayman Islands when the businessman relocated to London in 2002 amounted to tax avoidance.
In their latest liquidators report KPMG said they had filed a $57m claim in the High Court at Auckland. “During the reporting period the liquidators have attempted to locate and service Mr Watson which has been unsuccessful to date.”
Watson is also being sought by lawyers acting for Sir Owen Glenn after an investment partnership soured and courts in the United Kingdom ruled the former owed the latter $85m.