
- Home
- News & Publications
- News releases
- Enforcement Committee news releases
- The AMF Enforcement Committee imposes fines totalling €4,150,000 on four legal entities and three natural persons for disseminating false or misleading information, and price manipulation
The AMF Enforcement Committee imposes fines totalling €4,150,000 on four legal entities and three natural persons for disseminating false or misleading information, and price manipulation
In its decision of 11 December 2024, the Enforcement Committee imposed fines of between €50,000 and €300,000 on Auplata and Didier Tamagno, its former CEO, as well as on RSM Paris and Stéphane Marie, the statutory auditors who certified Auplata's financial statements, for market manipulation by disseminating false or misleading information. It imposed fines of between €1,000,000 and €1,500,000 on Pierre Vannineuse, and on European High Growth Opportunities Manco SA and Alpha Blue Ocean Inc. for manipulating the Auplata share price.
On 30 October 2017, Auplata entered into a financing agreement with the EHGO SF fund for the issue of perpetual bonds redeemable in cash and/or new and/or existing shares (ODIRNANEs) with share subscription warrants (BSAs).
The Committee found that Auplata had disseminated false or misleading information in its press release of 30 October 2017 relating to this agreement, insofar as it did not mention the existence of a key clause, which gave investors an inaccurate view of the cost of the financing.
The Committee also deemed that by not describing how this clause worked, by not mentioning the earn-outs paid following its implementation and by not including it in its going concern risk analysis, Auplata had disseminated false or misleading information in the notes to its 2017 consolidated financial statements, published on 27 April 2018. The Committee deemed these breaches were attributable to Mr Tamagno , Chief Executive Officer of Auplata.
In addition, the Committee fined RSM Paris, in its capacity as Auplata's statutory auditor, for having disseminated false or misleading information in its unqualified certification of Auplata's 2017 consolidated financial statements. The Committee deemed that this breach was attributable to Mr Marie, partner statutory auditor of RSM Paris responsible for the audit, and signatory of the statutory auditors' report on Auplata's 2017 consolidated financial statements.
Lastly, the Committee found that the EHGO SF fund, which had entered into the financing agreement with Auplata on 30 October 2017, had disposed of a significant number of Auplata shares in disregard of its undertakings to retain shares and to limit the daily volume of sales communicated to the public. It considered that this behaviour constituted price manipulation by European High Growth Opportunities Manco SA and Alpha Blue Ocean Inc, which had powers to manage the fund, and by Mr Vannineuse, their director.
An appeal may be lodged against this decision.
About the Enforcement Committee
The Enforcement Committee, which is made up of judges and professionals, has total freedom to make decisions. It can impose sanctions on any person or company whose practices contravene laws and regulations that fall within the jurisdiction of the AMF. It ratifies settlement agreements signed by the Secretary General and respondents. And it takes part in the AMF’s educational efforts by clarifying financial regulations when explaining its decisions.
Press contact
On the same topic



Head of publications: The Executive Director of AMF Communication Directorate. Contact: Communication Directorate – Autorité des marches financiers 17 place de la Bourse – 75082 Paris cedex 02