Prosecutors declined to file a criminal case against a Citigroup Inc analyst after HTC Corp (宏達電) alleged the employee breached securities laws by spreading misinformation, said Huang Mou-hsin (黃謀信), deputy chief prosecutor at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Kevin Chang (張凱偉), a Taipei-based analyst for Citigroup, used information that was already publicly available and therefore he could not be accused of spreading false information, Huang said by telephone yesterday.
HTC submitted the complaint in August last year, alleging violations of the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法).
In July last year, Chang cut his rating on HTC to “sell” from “buy,” citing corporate governance concerns and the outlook for the smartphone market. HTC alleged Chang’s acceptance of a media interview showed his intention to spread misinformation and to influence the company’s share price, while prosecutors found that no such interview took place and that the information was taken from a previously published report.
An article on July 29 last year cited Chang as saying that Vodafone Group PLC had canceled orders for an HTC handset because of delays, prosecutors said in a statement. That information came from previously publicized reports and Chang had no motive to impact HTC’s share price or to spread rumors, the statement said.
HTC has seven days to appeal the decision, Huang said.
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