Ex-fund manager jailed for defrauding investors

His actions led investors to suffer US$342,500 in losses, says MAS.

A former fund manager and director of One Asia Investment Partners (OAIP) has been sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment for acts allegedly intended to defraud investors.

Sun Weiyeh was convicted on 11 April 2024 for violations under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) on fraudulent or deceptive conduct relating to over-the-counter bond trading, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), based on a press release published on 2 July.

Sun reportedly sold two OTC bonds at lower prices from a fund managed by OAIP to another OAIP fund of which he was a majority investor, whilst knowing that there were earlier available bids at higher prices, the central bank said in a press release.

Sun was said to have then sold the two bonds to the market at profit. This caused a US$342,500 loss to investors in the first fund.

To carry out the trade, Sun reportedly solicited bids from various market participants via the Bloomberg chat messaging system, then used lower bid prices as reference prices to sell the two OTC bonds between the two OAIP funds via pass-through trades through an intermediary.

For this, Sun was charged on 22 October 2020 for two counts under Section 201(b) of the SFA. The District Court found Sun guilty of both charges after a 26-day trial.

MAS and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force jointly investigated the case.