Co-conspirator in SGX market manipulation case gets 16 months' jail, over S$12,000 fine
Oon Yun Cong conspired with Kenneth Goh Jia Poh to fraudulently induce Telegram chat group members to buy shares, driving up the price to their benefit.
by Daphne Yow · CNA · JoinSINGAPORE: The co-conspirator in a Singapore Exchange (SGX) market manipulation case, which involved market rigging on over 400 occasions across 126 unique securities, was sentenced to 16 months' jail and fined S$12,105.70 on Wednesday (Oct 9).
Oon Yun Cong, 35, pleaded guilty on Aug 12 to two charges under the Securities and Futures Act for fraudulently inducing others to deal in shares, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Thursday.
Another charge was taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
Between Apr 30 and Nov 23 in 2020, he had made false statements on 10 occasions in two Telegram chat groups to induce members in those groups to buy shares in securities held by him, said MAS.
His false statements included overstating his target sell price for the securities and claiming that he had bought shares in the securities when he had not.
During the same period, Oon also conspired with his friend, 37-year-old Kenneth Goh Jia Poh, to make similar false statements on six other occasions in the same Telegram chat groups to induce members to buy shares in securities counters where the pair held shares.
In December 2022, Goh was sentenced to 19 months' jail and fined S$355,604.
The court had heard that both Oon and Goh were day traders, and that the pair met while in National Service.
The pair often discussed stocks, and co-authored a blog providing technical analysis and commentaries on trading in Singapore-listed stocks.
Goh, who was also a Grab driver at the time of the offences, earned about S$365,000 in profit from illegally manipulating the market.
MAS said that the pair's conviction was the result of a joint investigation by MAS and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force. The investigations arose from referrals by the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
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