Kim Goodman, left, walks with Mitchell Finkelstein, alleged insider-trading tipping lawyer, in the hall way of the Ontario Securities Commission during his trial, November 10, 2011.
Another former client at CIBC World Markets Inc. says he believes one of his investment advisers told him Masonite International Corp. might be a possible takeover target before a deal was announced publicly in 2004, but told the Ontario Securities Commission he can't remember anything specific about what he was told.
The client, who can only be identified as Hillel F because the OSC hearing panel issued a ban on reporting the last names of brokerage firm clients involved in an ongoing insider trading case, said he was close friends with former Montreal-based CIBC adviser Korin Bobrow and later became friends with his partner Paul Azeff. Mr. F told an OSC hearing panel Wednesday that either Mr. Bobrow or Mr. Azeff recommended he buy Masonite shares in November, 2004, and said he had the impression that a takeover for Masonite could be coming.
"I believe this was a consideration we took into account when we bought the stock," Mr. F told the hearing panel.
The OSC alleges Mr. Azeff received tips about takeover deals from former fraternity brother Mitchell Finkelstein, who was a partner in the mergers and acquisitions practices at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto. Mr. Azeff and Mr. Bobrow are accused of trading on the information and passing along the tips to a wide circle of clients, friends and family members. They deny the allegations.
Mr. F, a lawyer and accountant by training who now works at a music company in Montreal, testified he couldn't remember specifically what he was told about a takeover by either Mr. Azeff or Mr. Bobrow, and said a possible takeover bid was only one factor he considered when buying a total of $560,000 in Masonite shares before a takeover bid was announced in December, 2004. He said he did not think he was receiving illegal insider information.
"That they would have insider information and be tipping on inside information never entered my mind," he said. "These were trusted advisers for many, many years."
Another client, identified as Leon K, testified Monday that Mr. Azeff told him two companies were "in play" before takeover deals were announced, including Masonite.
During his testimony Wednesday, Mr. F was asked about an e-mail exchange he had with Mr. Bobrow on Nov. 19, 2004, after Mr. F arranged for Mr. Bobrow to buy 1,000 shares of Masonite for his girlfriend. His girlfriend e-mailed Mr. Bobrow asking for the name of the company whose shares had just purchased for $35,000, and Mr. Bobrow e-mailed Mr. F to ask whether he could tell her the company's name.
In his e-mail reply, Mr. F told Mr. Bobrow, not to tell her because it was confidential. "I haven't told anyone. … We don't want this information in the public domain."
Asked Wednesday what he meant was confidential, Mr. F said he wanted the name of the company kept confidential. He said he is "an exceptionally private person" and doesn't want anyone to know what shares he is buying.
OSC lawyer Tamara Center read to Mr. F from interview testimony he gave to OSC staff in 2010, when he was asked about the same e-mail and said, "the confidential information to the best of my recollection is that the company was in play."
She said his prior comment was inconsistent with the answer he gave Wednesday. Mr. F said he was speculating in his answer in 2010 and had no memory of the e-mail when it was shown to him at the time.
Mr. F began his testimony Wednesday by reading a statement saying his evidence could not be used to incriminate him in any other legal forum. He said he couldn't remember any details of conversations he had with Mr. Azeff or Mr. Bobrow about Masonite, and Ms. Center formally announced to the hearing panel that she was challenging his testimony as inconsistent with his prior statements, which is an unusual step for a lawyer to take with her own witness.
Mr. F told Ms. Center he had never asked Mr. Azeff about the source of his information because it was not in his nature to ask such questions. In his 2010 interview, read aloud by Ms. Center, he said he didn't ask the source "because I didn't want to know."
Under cross-examination by lawyer Tyler Hodgson, who is representing Mr. Azeff and Mr. Bobrow, Mr. F said he felt "interrogated" and threatened during his 2010 interview with the OSC and felt he had to answer all the questions, so he began speculating about things he didn't remember.
Janet McFarland