Shady From The Start

The company that said it would buy the Pirate Bay site and legitimize the operation has been booted off the Swedish stock exchange for misleading the market.

Global Global Gaming Factory X was de-listed from AktieTorget Sept. 9, after the exchange’s disciplinary committee said it had misled investors over The Pirate Bay acquisition and also over the negotiations it claimed to have had with a global company regarding music rights.

“Everything seemed shady from the start,” said Gunther Marder, head of the Swedish Shareholders’ Assocation, after GGF’s shares were suspended Aug. 21. GGF was believed to be putting out information that wasn’t “accurate, relevant and reliable.”

“It is impossible to say what has been true and what has been a lie,” Marder said. “This entire affair has been lined with clumsy statements and doubtful claims.”

GGF, which made about £500,000 last year from making software and running a chain of Internet cafes, has now been found to have “seriously violated” the exchange’s rules by trying to raise the money from investors while giving the impression that it already had it.

AktieTorget, the equity market on which GGF shares were traded, investigated the company because it was telling the market it was on the verge of completing a 60 million Swedish kronor ($8.52 million) cash deal for The Pirate Bay.

It was a high-profile announcement, coming a couple of months after four men were sentenced to prison and fined a total of $ 3.97 million for their links to the site.

The Pirate Bay deal looks to be holed below the waterline, particularly as the investigation means GGF will struggle to raise any funding. However, company chief exec Hans Pandeya told Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet the deal is still on – even if he has to find the money himself.