Former Starbreeze CFO Sebastian Ahlskog has been acquitted of an insider trading conviction from 2020. At the time, a Swedish court found Ahlskog guilty of using information about Payday developer Starbreeze's financial situation to sell shares before the public knew that Starbreeze was facing insolvency.
Starbreeze ran headlong into financial troubles in late 2018 and early 2019, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:shedding a quarter of its workforce after Overkill's The Walking Dead failed to meet expectations. The game was touted as a huge windfall for Starbreeze when it acquired the license and the company expected massive sales, but the game was released with technical issues and poor gameplay, leading to bad reviews and even worse sales.
Skybound Entertainment pulled its license for The Walking Dead a few months after release, followed shortly by 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Starbreeze's board sacking its CEO amidst reports o🐓f massive crunch and employe🌊e burnout.
In February 2020, ex-CFO Sebastian Ahlskog, who left the company in late 2019, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:was convicted for insider trading performed in 2018. The courts said Ahlskog made SEK 700,000 ($72,494 USD) using🧸 private information and also fined him roughly $4,000.
Over a year later and reports Ahlskog has had his conviction overturned on appeal. The charges were dismissed on June 11, 2021, with the prosecution having until September 7 to appeal. No appeal was received, so Ahlskog&rꦕsquo♏;s previous conviction was overturned.
"The Court of Appeal does not believe Ahlskog had insider infor🔥mation that Starbreeze would fail to find external funding as it faced insolvency," reported GamesIndustry.biz. "At the ♕time he sold his shares, the company was still in discussions with banks and other parties."
Ahlskog no longer has to pay the roug🍸hly $4,000 fine and has had his seized assets returned.
Meanwhile, Starbreeze’s restructuring appears to have put the company on solid enough financial ground. The company plans to release 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Payday 3 in 2023 and the mobile spinoff 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Payday: Crime War next year.