A Hong Kong court has convicted three individuals for conspiring to manipulate the market after a landmark 22-day trial.
A nine-member jury at the Court of First Instance found Sit Yi Ki, Lam Wing Ki and Tam Cheuk Hang guilty of carrying out false trading in the shares of Ching Lee Holdings.
Ching Lee, which was founded in 1998, is an investment holding company primarily involved in construction, consultancy and project management services in Hong Kong.
This was a highly sophisticated and complex market manipulation case, the Securities and Futures of Commission (SFC) said in a statement on Wednesday night. The criminal prosecution was brought by Hong Kong’s Department of Justice following extensive investigations by the SFC, the statement added.
This was the first time that an offence under the Securities and Futures Ordinance was tried at the Court of First Instance, according to the Hong Kong markets watchdog.
“The outcome of this case sends a strong deterrent message on the legal consequence of undermining the integrity of Hong Kong’s securities markets and the confidence of the investing public,” Christopher Wilson, the executive director of enforcement at SFC, said in the statement.
The prosecution stemmed from the SFC’s investigations which revealed that, between March and September 2016, Sit, Lam and Tam conspired with Ho Ming Hin, Simon Suen Man and others to manipulate the shares of Ching Lee.
They maintained an artificial turnover in the shares in Ching Lee by conducting manipulative transactions among 156 securities accounts under their control, resulting in misleading appearance of active trading and an artificial increase in the trading volume of the company’s shares, the SFC said.
“The manipulative trading activities took place over a period lasting for more than five months in 2016 and netted illicit profits of over HK$124 million (US$15.9 million),” according to the statement.
Ching Lee recorded revenue of HK$445 million for the six months to September 30, 2023, while net profit came in at HK$3.4 million for the period, according to its 2023 interim report.
The court will rule on the sentencing on June 17.