Two proprietary trading firm directors arrested for fraud in futures contracts trading

They are sentenced to 16 weeks’ and 4 weeks’ imprisonment, respectively.

Two directors of proprietary trading company Joerik Financial were convicted of fraud and dishonest conduct in relation to the trading of futures contracts, as both have given false statements to Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading Limited (SGX-DT), according to a press release.

The decision was a result of an investigation conducted by the Monetary Authority
of Singapore (MAS) and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force. The two traders, Jimmy Ng and Erik Ng, are sentenced to 16 weeks’ and 4 weeks’ imprisonment, respectively.

Meanwhile, court proceedings against a third individual in the case, Joseph Chai, are ongoing.

Also read: Fraud incidents from unlicensed online trading jumped 255% in 2017

Four years ago, Jimmy Ng repeatedly entered and deleted a series of buy and sell orders for SGX MSCI Singapore Index July 2015 Futures Contracts (SGN15), which is said to have created the illusion of buying or selling interest in SGN15 and induced other market participants to trade against him on the opposite side of his fictitious orders, at prices that were more favourable to him.

In response to a query from SGX-DT on Ng’s trading activities in SGN15, he conspired with Erik Ng and Chai to furnish a false reply to SGX-DT. It claimed that Jimmy Ng was conducting algorithm trading in SGN15, and that he had intended to fill the fictitious buy and sell orders.

A year later, Erik Ng traded in SGX MSCI Taiwan Index August 2016 Futures Contracts (TWQ16) in the same manner and had furnished a false reply to SGX-DT, saying that he engaged in arbitrage trading between the Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) futures contracts and the miniTAIEX futures contracts.

Also read: MAS bans reps from HSBC, UOB, and NTUC Income over fraud