The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today noted that court-appointed administrators had distributed approximately $19 million worth of assets this month as compensation to affected clients of Hong Kong Wan Kiu Investment Company Limited (HKWK) following the approval of the Court of First Instance in January 2025 (Notes 1 to 4).
This came after the Court granted final reliefs – including a restoration order in favour of the affected clients of HKWK, alongside an order appointing administrators to recover and administer HKWK’s assets – in November 2022 following legal proceedings brought by the SFC under section 213 of the SFO.
The SFC’s legal proceedings arose from an investigation after detecting signs of financial irregularities on the part of HKWK. The SFC’s investigation revealed that HKWK and its sole director and shareholder, Connie Sham Khi Rose, had sold securities of HKWK’s clients without their authorisation, misappropriated the sales proceeds, and falsified client statements to conceal the unauthorised transactions. The SFC subsequently referred the matter to the Police for further investigation which resulted in the criminal prosecution of Sham by the Department of Justice.
The criminal proceedings at the High Court against Sham had been concluded. Sham pleaded guilty to misappropriating around $58 million worth of HKWK’s client assets between 2011 and 2019. On 3 July 2025, Sham, aged 88, was sentenced to 160 hours of community service, with the Court taking into account her remorse and the fact that she had already compensated the affected clients of HKWK through resources of her own, her family and friends.
The SFC’s Executive Director of Enforcement, Mr Christopher Wilson, said: “The SFC is firmly committed to safeguarding market integrity and protecting investors. The actions taken by the SFC in this case highlights the SFC’s strong stance against dishonest practices by intermediaries and its dedication to maintaining public trust in the financial markets.”
Notes:
- Please see the SFC’s press release dated 23 November 2022 for details.
- HKWK was licensed under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) to carry on Type 1 (dealing in securities) regulated activity. Sham was the sole director and shareholder of HKWK, and was the responsible officer and manager-in-charge of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, compliance, key business line, operational control and review, overall management oversight and risk management of HKWK at the material times. HKWK’s licence was revoked in March 2024.
- The administrators are Mr Fok Hei Yu and Mr Chow Wai Shing Daniel, both of FTI Consulting (Hong Kong) Limited.
- In February 2020, the SFC obtained an interim injunction order (Injunction) under section 213 of the SFO against HKWK and related parties to freeze their assets. Prior to obtaining the Injunction, the SFC issued a restriction notice against HKWK in November 2019 to prohibit HKWK from carrying on any regulated business for which it is licensed under the SFO and disposing of and dealing with any property held by it or held on behalf of its clients until further notice. Please see the SFC’s press release dated 5 November 2019 for details.
