Pandeya said this Friday after Swedish stock exchange AktieTorget stopped trading in Global Gaming's shares when it did not receive all the info it requested about the company's financial position, according to reports in Swedish newsprint SvD. Separately, A criminal probe has been launched by Swedish government into possible insider trading related to an unexplained jump in Global Gaming's share price a week before the firm declared its intention to buy The Pirate Bay. Questions have also been raised about the financial health of Global Gaming and of Pandeya himself, who is the company's largest shareholder. Both he and the company are grappling with debt, former Global Gaming CTO Johan Sellstrom told CNET News.

 

Since announcing on June 30 his company's plan to acquire The Pirate Bay, Pandeya has declined to provide the lists of his investors, who he has said will put up 60 million Swedish Kroner, or about $8.5 million, to fund the merger.

 

The news that has surfaced in the past week has called Pandeya's credibleness into question.

 

However in a lengthy e-mail exchange with CNET News on Friday, Pandeya said that other than turning over investors' names to the government from the stock market, he has also given the names to Ben Fritz, a media reporter with the LA Times.

 

"I put The Los Angeles Times in touch with one of them who assured the investment," Pandeya wrote. "I also provided (Fritz) with the name of the investment bank that is overseeing the investors provided they did not reveal this. So, the DD (Pandeya presumably means "due diligence") involving this has been done. Now, the stock market wanted the names...and I divulged the name of the investment bank (that) assured that the money was in place. Now, Ben Fritz and the Swedish stock market know the identity of the investment bank (besides the investors and us)."

 

AktieTorget officials confirmed in a statement posted online that they did talk to someone claiming to be an investor. Officials, however, wanted more certification and it was unavailable Friday. AktieTorget won't allow trading to resume in Global Gaming until it receives more evidence that Global Gaming possesses enough money to complete the acquisition.

 

In a phone interview, Fritz declined to remark and would onlymention a July 31 report he co-wrote about Global Gaming with Times reporter Dawn Chmielewski titled "Pirate Bay deal surrounded by Hollywood-style headaches."

 

The account mentions that Global Gaming "has commitments from more than 30 private investors to provide the approximately $4 million cash portion of (The Pirate Bay) acquisition." The newspaper account does not cite its source for this info nor does it remark anywhere that the newspeople spoke to any of the company's financial backers.

 

A review of Latimes.com did not turn up any other stories by Fritz about Global Gaming or The Pirate Bay.

 

I asked Pandeya for the names of the investors under identical terms he offered to Fritz, and I promised not to write about them until after Thursday. That's the day he has said The Pirate Bay acquisition will be finished.

 

"We agreed to keep their names secret until after the acquisition because they are confused and strongly afraid of  the blasting I have received in media," Pandeya wrote. "I am concerned that they will back out if journalists start scrutinizing them."

 

But if this is the case, then why would he give the names to Fritz? Why wouldn't Fritz weigh in on the dispute if he had this info? There are lots of questions still unanswered about Global Gaming.