The Taiwan High Court on Thursday handed down reduced sentences over Top Pot Bakery (胖達人) stock manipulation, finding investor Mike Xu (許雅鈞) not guilty, while finding his father, Xu Ching-hsiang (許慶祥), guilty, but giving him a suspended sentence.
In the second ruling on the case, the court found Xu Ching-hsiang guilty of insider trading and violating the Securities Exchange Act (證券交易法), giving him a suspended jail term of 22 months, which he does not have to serve if he is not caught breaking the law in the next four years.
Xu Ching-hsiang was also required by the court to attend a 20-hour public education class.
The court upheld the not guilty verdict for Mike Xu, husband of talk show hostess Little S (小S), also known as Dee Hsu (徐熙娣), from the first ruling in August last year.
It also handed down reduced terms with suspended sentences to other suspects in the case, Genome International Biomedical Co (GIBC, 基因國際) president Hsu Hsun-ping (徐洵平) and his wife, Chiang Li-fen (姜麗芬).
The court said that Xu Ching-hsiang admitted to insider trading during court hearings after pleading not guilty in the initial trial.
He asked for leniency from the judges, citing the charitable work that he claimed he had done through his medical practice.
As Mike Xu was found not guilty and other defendants received suspended sentences, the law prohibits prosecutors from appealing the ruling, unless major flaws or violations of the Constitution are found, legal experts said.
The investors who lost money in the stock manipulation reportedly reached an agreement with the defendants over compensation, agreeing on about NT$16 million (US$492,800).
The defendants’ lawyer cited the agreement during the trial as an indication of remorse from the accused and cited their lack of previous criminal convictions as grounds for a more lenient sentence.
The case stemmed from a 2013 investigation into allegations of false advertising by the Top Pot Bakery chain, which Little S had promoted, after it admitted using artificial flavors in its products.
Prosecutors suspected the executives at its parent company, GIBC, of insider trading.
Prosecutors said the defendants sold GIBC stock and committed other fraudulent acts, including selling 1.5 million shares at NT$100 per share prior to releasing a statement that the company was doing poorly and causing share prices to drop.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS