Penny stock debacle: More stakeholders take court action

The fallout from the penny stock debacle involving Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital and LionGold Corp continues as more stakeholders head to the courts.

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Penny stock debacle: More stakeholders take court action

By Rachel Scully
28 November 2013

The fallout from the penny stock debacle involving Blumont Group, Asiasons Capital and LionGold Corp continues as more stakeholders head to the courts.

A court portal setting out pending cases shows that US discount broker Interactive Brokers Group has taken legal action against six Malaysians and two companies.

Among them are Blumont chairman Neo Kim Hock, Ipco International chief executive Quah Su Ling and LionGold director of business and corporate development Peter Chen Hing Woon. Mr Chen is also an executive director at Signature Metals.

The other three individuals are JK Yaming International Holdings director Tan Boon Kiat, Mr Lee Chai Huat and Mr Kuan Ah Ming.

Two companies registered in the British Virgin Islands - Sun Spirit Group and Neptune Capital Group - round out the eight defendants in this case.

Interactive Brokers claimed last month that it had suffered a deficit of about US$68 million (S$85 million) owing to clients’ exposure to four counters listed on the Singapore Exchange. The four stocks lost over 90 per cent of their value early last month.

During its third-quarter earnings call on Oct 15, chairman and chief executive Thomas Peterffy said then that the potential losses were incurred by seven people.

Without revealing names, Mr Peterffy said during the teleconference those “personally liable for this debt are well-known industrialists... so they have large positions not only in (Interactive Brokers) but others (as well).”

Separately, court records filed last week show that a unit of French bank Societe Generale, registered in Singapore, has also taken legal action against another Malaysian and a company.

Mr Ooi Cheu Kok was a substantial shareholder of Blumont until he sold down his stake in the mining group to less than 5 per cent. Data from Bloomberg showed that Mr Ooi held 123.26 million shares, or a 4.77 per cent stake, as of Oct 23.

Societe Generale Bank & Trust is also taking legal action against Carlos Place Investments, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

This comes after three investors had commenced legal proceedings against global bank Goldman Sachs in recent weeks over involuntary force-selling of their shares in the three counters.

Last month, some $8 billion was wiped out in market value when the three stocks suffered a massive sell-down.

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