The wife of an expert on the government’s vaccine review panel that in July 2021 granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp has been charged with insider trading of the company’s shares before the EUA was made public, prosecutors said yesterday.
Shih Ting-fang (施庭芳), the wife of Liu Tsang-wu (劉滄梧), a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine review committee, took advantage of the information her husband shared with her about the EUA for Medigen’s vaccine before the news was made public, the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office said, adding that she pocketed about NT$150,000 (US$4,926) in July 2021.
Shih was charged with insider trading under the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), while Liu was charged with leaking trading information under the same law, prosecutors said.
Photo: Taipei Times
Liu leaked the “material information” to Shih before the EUA was publicized on July 18, 2021, prosecutors said.
Shih purchased 20,000 Medigen shares at NT$260.50 per share before the information was announced a day later, prosecutors said.
Shih, who is a doctor at National Taiwan University Hospital, sold 15,000 Medigen shares on July 23, 2021, and the remaining 5,000 shares on July 26, 2021, for an average of NT$268 per share, they said.
Shih earned NT$151,000 in profit, prosecutors said, adding that she has pleaded guilty and returned the profit to the national treasury.
Prosecutors said they took custody of Shih’s cellphone, which contained an inquiry she made to a fortune teller as to whether she should buy the company’s shares after being told about the EUA.
According to the Securities and Exchange Act, a person found guilty of insider trading faces three to 10 years in jail and a possible fine of NT$10 million to NT$200 million.
Liu, who is acting director of the National Institute of Cancer Research of the National Health Research Institutes, allegedly had no idea about his wife’s involvement in insider trading of Medigen shares until prosecutors questioned him on Dec. 29, 2021, the office said.
Prosecutors also launched a probe into more than a dozen other people for their possible involvement in insider trading relating to Medigen shares, including employees of its parent company Medigen Biotechnology Corp, Medigen Biotechnology chairman Chang Shih-chung (張世忠), Chang’s sister Chang Tzu-ling (張姿玲) and her husband, Huang Tzu-liang (黃子亮), as well as Huang’s friends and relatives.
Chang Tzu-ling and Huang are members of Medigen Biotechnology’s board of directors.
Prosecutors said another investigation involving Chang Shih-chung and Chang Tzu-ling is ongoing regarding their involvement in insider trading of shares in the parent company, while the others were not charged with insider trading of the vaccine developer’s shares due to a lack of evidence.
Raids related to the case came after prosecutors intensified their probe on corporate insiders passing inside information to relatives or friends with the aim to make money buying or selling the company’s shares from February 2020 to July 2021.
Its shares were listed on the over-the-counter market on the Taipei Exchange in April 2018. They started trading in 2020 at about NT$19 per share, and soared to NT$85 per share in mid-July that year as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
After news of the EUA surfaced, the stock rose to hit NT$299 at the close of trading on July 21, 2021.
Market analysts said huge price swings, accompanied by seemingly well-timed rumors about whether the vaccine would be approved, led to suspicions of insider trading.
Its shares yesterday rose 1.37 percent to close at NT$59.30 on the over-the-counter market.
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