Quebec’s securities regulator continues to paint former Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov (pictured) as the architect of a major insider trading ring.

On Wednesday, the first of two days of hearings by a tribunal of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) got underway in Montreal. The hearings are probing the stock trading activity of 12 individuals that the AMF claims earned profits of $1.5m from inside information that originated with Baazov.

Preliminary hearings in September revealed that the AMF’s case against the 12 was largely circumstantial, but AMF lawyer Philippe Levasseur said on Wednesday that this was par for the course. “Direct proof just doesn’t happen,” adding that the AMF lacks the authority to tap people’s phones.

The AMF did obtain phone records and emails that show a pattern of contact between Baazov and some of the 12 individuals, including his older brother Josh/Ofer Baazov, related to transactions dating back to Amaya’s 2011 acquisition of software firm Cryptologic.