Hong Kong SFC Issues Restriction Notices to 13 Brokers

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) recently announced that it has issued restriction notices to 13 brokers, freezing 54 client accounts linked to suspected social media ramp-and-dump scam.

According to the regulator, the scam was involved in the manipulation of the market in the shares of a company listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited between September 2020 and November 2020.

The 13 brokerages are: Celestial Securities Limited, Central China International Securities Co., Limited, China Industrial Securities International Brokerage Limited, China Tonghai Securities Limited, Core Pacific – Yamaichi International (H.K.) Limited, KGI Asia Limited, Kingkey Securities Group Limited, Luk Fook Securities (HK) Limited, Monmonkey Group Securities Limited, Shanxi Securities International Limited, Zeus Securities Limited, Zhongtai International Securities Limited and Zinvest Global Limited.

The brokers are prohibited from disposing of or dealing with, or assisting, counselling or procuring another person to dispose of or deal with, any assets in any way in the trading accounts up to certain amounts without the SFC's prior written consent.

Previously, the regulator has issued restriction notices to Enlighten Securities Limited and Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) Limited, which are related to a suspected social media ramp-and-dump scam between March 2020 and October 2020.