Sigma Lithium's former co-CEO fired for trading in blackout period
(Corrects paragraph 13 to reflect consequences for executives trading during blackout periods, not insider trading)
By Fabio Teixeira
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -The former co-CEO of Sigma Lithium (TSXV:SGML), a leader in Brazil's budding lithium sector, was fired earlier this year for trading its shares during a quarterly earnings blackout period, according to legal correspondence in a civil lawsuit, trading data and two people familiar with the matter.
Vancouver-based Sigma Lithium, which did not reply to questions about the dismissal, gave no reason to investors when announcing the exit of Calvyn Gardner, who was co-CEO with his wife Ana Cabral-Gardner until January 2023.
Gardner's ouster touched off a series of lawsuits in Brazil and the United States, along with a broader management shakeup, revealing boardroom turmoil at the lithium miner as it tries to sell itself to car firms and big battery industry players.
Gardner and Cabral-Gardner, who are getting divorced, did not respond to requests for comment.
Previously unreported legal correspondence show the company told Gardner's lawyers in a July letter that he was dismissed over share sales in January. His lawyers acknowledged those trades in a letter to Sigma in August, but said he had been unaware of the firm's restrictions on what they described as «routine» trading.
Public data from Canada's System for Electronic Disclosure by Insiders (SEDI) shows that Gardner sold 500,000 shares for about $13.3 million between Jan. 11 and 12, ahead of Sigma's planned annual report.
It is not a crime to trade during a blackout period, two legal experts told Reuters, but any trades based on material nonpublic information would be considered a violation under North American
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