A Malaysian businessman convicted of masterminding a stock scam that wiped US$5.8 billion off Singapore’s exchange yesterday was sentenced to 36 years in jail by a court in the city-state.
John Soh Chee Wen (蘇啟文) orchestrated the scheme, according to court documents, and his accomplice, Singaporean Quah Su Ling (柯素玲), was also given a 20-year jail term.
Both were convicted in May of using more than 180 trading accounts to inflate the share prices of three companies in what High Court Judge Hoo Sheau Peng (符曉平) called a “scheme of substantial scale, complexity and sophistication.”
“Armed with a good understanding of the securities and financial markets, and tapping on their extensive connections and networks, they boldly exploited the system,” Hoo said during sentencing.
“Immense harm” was caused by the stock market crash, she said.
Prosecutors called it the “most serious case” of stock market manipulation in Singapore, a global financial center.
They detailed how the accused planned a “complex and elaborate fraud” to manipulate the share prices of Blumont Group Ltd, Asiasons Capital Ltd and LionGold Corp Ltd.
Soh and Quah used the shares as collateral, convincing several banks — including Goldman Sachs Group Inc — to extend more than S$170 million (US$126 million) in credit to finance their scheme.
They then used the cash to create demand for penny stocks, reportedly pushing up some prices by about 800 percent in 2013.
However, on Oct. 4 that year, prices crashed, wiping an estimated S$8 billion from the Singapore Exchange.
Singapore authorities say the incident dented investor confidence and directly affected trading volumes in 2014.
Soh was convicted on 180 out of 188 charges and Quah on 169 of 177 charges.
They plan to file an appeal, court documents said.
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