Grab driver in SGX market manipulation case gets jail and fine of more than S$355,000

SINGAPORE: A Grab driver who rigged the market on more than 400 occasions across 126 unique securities, earning about S$365,000 in profit, was sentenced by a court on Monday (Dec 19).

Kenneth Goh Jia Poh, 35, was given 19 months' jail and fined S$355,604. If he cannot pay the fine, he will have to serve another 18 months and two weeks' jail in default.

Goh was allowed to defer his sentence to January, and to pay his fine in instalments by February 2024.

Goh pleaded guilty in November to four charges under the Securities and Futures Act.

He was a Grab driver and day trader at the time of the offences and had met his co-conspirator, 33-year-old Oon Yun Cong, while serving National Service.

Between January 2016 and September 2018, Goh repeatedly entered and deleted buy orders for multiple securities for which he had no intention to fill.

Through this "spoofing and layering", he created a false appearance of interest in these securities, in order to induce other market participants to trade at prices favourable to him.

Once his trades were fulfilled, he would delete his fictitious orders.

While he was being investigated for false trading, Goh made false statements in a Telegram chat group between July and August 2020. This was to induce chat group members to buy shares in the securities which he held.

Goh and his accomplice were part of two Telegram chat groups on trading. One of them, SGX Penny Stocks Discussion, had more than 1,900 members.

The pair, who used pseudonyms in the chat groups, was highly active in the Penny chat. Goh was given the title of "Spotter" by the chat administrator as he was "good at spotting stocks" whose prices were likely to rise.

Goh admitted that he had an influence in the chat and even a "following", with other chat members believing that he was good at seeing how stocks would move.

He would create a false impression that there was substantial demand from buyers for the particular security, inducing other market participants into buying the security and driving up its price. He would then sell his stake for a profit.

He used seven trading accounts to do this, with four of the accounts belonging to his retiree parents. His parents knew that Goh was using their accounts, but did not know what he was using them for. Goh kept all the profits made from the trades in his parents' accounts.

He spent most of the money on buying a condominium and a down payment for a car.

In a statement on Monday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said Goh's conviction was the result of a joint investigation by MAS and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force.

The investigations arose from referrals by the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited, said MAS.

Ms Loo Siew Yee, assistant managing director of policy, payments and financial crime at MAS, said the authority does not condone trading behaviour that distorts and interferes with the proper discovery of price and market demand for securities.

"The present case is also a reminder that investors should be alert to the risks of trading based on recommendations or claims in online discussion forums and social media chat groups," she said.