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HONG KONG: Four investors found guilty in Hong Kong's largest market-manipulation case were sentenced to 26-30 months in prison by a Hong Kong court on Thursday.
The four were found guilty of conspiring to boost the share price of a listed company by nearly 80 percent.
The court heard that the defendants – Chan Chin-yuen, his sister-in-law Elaine Au Yeung, brother Chan Chin-tat, and a friend Chui Siu-fung – repeatedly traded between themselves in shares of Asia Standard Hotel Group in 2005 to create a false picture of the depth and liquidity of the stock.
Their trading activities raised the company's share price by 78 per cent, ramping up its market capitalisation by as much as four billion Hong Kong dollars (513 million US), the court was told.
Sentencing the group, deputy District Court Judge Johnny Chan said it was a serious case of market manipulation "because of the number of transactions and the amount of money involved".
He sentenced Chan Chin-yuen – who funded most of the illegal trading – to 30 months in prison and each of the other three defendants to 26 months.
Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement of the Securities and Futures Commission, which brought criminal proceedings against the defendants, said that the jail terms were a strong deterrent against market manipulation crimes.
"This is the largest market manipulation case brought before a court in Hong Kong. This was a conspiracy to rip money out of the hands of innocent investors," he said in a statement.
"Today's sentencing sends the clearest possible deterrent message to those who wrongly think they can get away with defrauding the market and the investing public. The message is that they can't get away with it, they will be caught and they will go to jail."
Under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, the maximum penalty for a market manipulation offence is 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of 10 million dollars.
- AFP/so
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