Hong Kong regulator issues restriction notices to 15 brokers

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission on March 15 issued restriction notices to 15 brokers, prohibiting them from dealing with certain assets held in 32 trading accounts related to a suspected social media ramp-and-dump scam.

The alleged ramp-and-dump scam involves the market manipulation in the shares of a company listed on the Hong Kong bourse between November 2019 and November 2020.

The brokers include Canfield Securities Co. Ltd., China Galaxy International Securities (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd., China Tonghai Securities Ltd., Emperor Securities Ltd., Enhanced Securities Ltd., Enlighten Securities Ltd., Futu Securities International (Hong Kong) Ltd., Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd., I Win Securities Ltd., KGI Asia Ltd., Riches Depot Securities Co. Ltd., Solomon Securities Ltd., Sun Hung Kai Investment Services Ltd., Sun International Securities Ltd. and Yuzhou Financial Holdings Ltd.China Tonghai Securities Co Ltd.

The regulatory restrictions also prevent the brokerages from processing withdrawals or transfers of securities and/or cash or any transfer of money arising from securities disposal, dealing with any securities and/or cash as instructed by any authorized person of the accounts, and assisting another person to deal with any relevant property in any manner.

The Securities and Futures Commission's investigations on the issue are ongoing, according to a media release.