The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed civil penalties on four individuals, Mr Aw Yong Leon Heng, Mr Neo Say Hwee, Mr Chang Bing Quan Daryl, Mr Cheng Jia Hong, and a trading representative Mr Tan Keng Cheng, for abetting Mr Lim Tiong Hian in false trading and the related unauthorised use of trading accounts under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
From January to May 2019, Mr Lim approached three friends – Mr Aw Yong, Mr Neo and Mr Chang – to trade in the shares of Epicentre Holdings Limited. Mr Neo subsequently approached Mr Cheng to engage in the same trading activity. The quartet falsely raised the price of Epicentre shares from $0.085 to $0.104, and falsely maintained the price of Epicentre shares, on behalf of Mr Lim.
In addition to placing the false Epicentre trades in their personal trading accounts, Mr Neo and Mr Chang also provided their login credentials to Mr Aw Yong, for Mr Aw Yong to access their trading accounts online to similarly place false trades in Epicentre. Mr Neo and Mr Cheng allowed Mr Aw Yong to place the trades in their accounts through their trading representative, Mr Tan, without formal third-party authorisation.
In this regard, Mr Tan deceived the brokerage house into believing that Mr Neo and Mr Cheng had instructed Mr Tan to place the Epicentre trades, and were the beneficial owners of the traded shares, when Mr Tan knew that the instructions were from Mr Aw Yong.
The five individuals have admitted to contraventions of the SFA and have paid the following civil penalty amounts to MAS as part of settlement agreements:
- Mr Aw Yong, $150,000 for abetment of false trading and unauthorised trading;
- Mr Neo, $100,000 for abetment of false trading, abetment of unauthorised trading, and unauthorised trading;
- Mr Chang, $75,000 for abetment of false trading, abetment of unauthorised trading and unauthorised trading;
- Mr Tan, $65,000 for unauthorised trading ; and
- Mr Cheng, $50,000 for unauthorised trading.
