Jail, fine for man in S’pore who lied in chat group to get members to buy shares

While under investigation for false trading between July 30 and Aug 26 in 2020, Goh lied nine times in a Telegram chat group to induce its members to buy shares in the securities that he held. — AP

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean who lied in a Telegram chat group to deceive others into buying shares in the securities that he held has been jailed for 19 months and fined S$355,604 (RM1.16mil).

Kenneth Goh Jia Poh, 35, was convicted on Dec 19 on four charges under the Securities and Futures Act, including one of creating a false appearance of the market for several securities on 325 occasions.

Between Jan 6, 2016 and Sept 20, 2018, Goh repeatedly entered and deleted buy orders for several securities for which he had no intention to fulfil, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

MAS said: “Through such ‘spoofing and layering’, Goh had intended to create a false appearance of interest in these securities, so as to induce other market participants to trade at prices favourable to him.

“Once his trades were fulfilled, he would delete all the fictitious orders.”

Four of the accounts that Goh used to enter the fictitious orders did not belong to him, nor did he have permission from the relevant brokerage firms to use these accounts, it noted.

His offences came to light during a joint investigation by MAS and the Commercial Affairs Department after Singapore Exchange Securities Trading referred his case to the authorities.

While under investigation for false trading between July 30 and Aug 26 in 2020, Goh lied nine times in a Telegram chat group to induce its members to buy shares in the securities that he held.

This included overstating his target price for the securities and claiming that he had bought shares when he had not.

Goh pleaded guilty to three other charges – two of deceiving investment bank UOB Kay Hian and OCBC Securities, and one of making false statements to induce others to trade.

Four remaining charges under the Act, including conspiring with another person to make false statements, were taken into consideration during sentencing, said MAS.

Loo Siew Yee, MAS’ assistant managing director of policy, payments and financial crime, said: “MAS does not condone trading behaviour that distorts and interferes with the proper discovery of price and market demand for securities.

“The present case is also a reminder that investors should be alert to the risks of trading based on recommendations or claims in online discussion forums and social media chat groups.” – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network