Four men charged with cheating, illegal trading activity, causing banks to disburse over $2.2 million

Four men are facing charges of illegal trading that involved cheating two banks into disbursing more than $2.2 million to buy shares.

Goh Hanshi Justin, who allegedly masterminded the scheme that manipulated the price of Sky One Holdings shares, was charged on Thursday (March 26) alongside three others.

Goh was a retail investor, while the three men - who were not named - were trading representatives at Lim & Tan Securities and RHB Securities Singapore, formerly known as DMG & Partners Securities.

Goh, 34, allegedly controlled the trades in Skyone shares through 27 different trading accounts that belonged to third parties from Sept 18 to Oct 28, 2013.

The three trading representatives obtained 15 of the accounts for him.

Police said that in order to secure a higher trade limit in Skyone shares, Goh nominated three other people to receive Skyone shares and used the stock as collateral with The Bank of East Asia and Maybank under their share-financing facilities.

This resulted in the two banks being duped into disbursing more than $2.2 million to buy Skyone shares.

Goh was charged with five counts of cheating the two banks, one count of false trading and 27 other charges of unauthorised trading in accounts belonging to third parties.

The three trading representatives were charged with 15 counts of unauthorised trading for allowing Goh to trade in third-party accounts for his own benefit.

Goh faces a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine for each cheating charge.

The four men face jail terms of up to seven years, a fine of up to $250,000 or both for each charge of false trading and unauthorised trading.

JEAN IAU

26 March 2020