The Eastern Magistrates’ Court today convicted Mr Wong Chun of false trading in respect of the shares of Sino-Tech International Holdings Limited (Sino-Tech) (Note 1).
Wong was remanded in custody pending sentencing. The case was adjourned to 19 June 2015.
The SFC alleged that, between December 2010 and January 2011, Wong created a false or misleading appearance of active trading in shares of Sino-Tech, using matched trades and some wash trades between his own account and the accounts of two other investors he was able to control to grossly inflate trading volume by more than 400% (Note 2).
As a result, the securities accounts controlled by Wong were able to off-load more than 200 million shares making a gross profit of more than $2 million that he would otherwise not be able to do so.
The SFC’s Executive Director of Enforcement, Mr Mark Steward, said, “Falsifying the market for or the price of securities misleads the investing public and is dishonest. The SFC will continue to prosecute deliberate and dishonest manipulation and offenders can expect to receive terms of imprisonment.”
Notes:
- Wong was a licensed representative of Ping An of China Securities (Hong Kong) Company Limited at the relevant time. Wong is currently not licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission.
- Matched trades are trades between parties who are acting together. A wash trade is a transaction that does not involve the change of beneficial ownership of the shares, i.e. a person buys from himself.
