Market manipulators found guilty

SINGAPORE: Two people were found guilty yesterday of masterminding Singapore’s worst case of market manipulation, wiping $5.8 billion in a penny-stocks scam in 2013.

John Soh Chee Wen and Quah Su-Ling used over 180 trading accounts to inflate the share prices of three companies.

They used the shares as collateral to get Sg$170 million in credit, which they used to create demand for penny stocks, pushing up some prices by 800%.

But when prices crashed, they wiped out about Sg$5.8bn from the Singapore Exchange, denting investor confidence and affecting trading.