Hong Kong’s high court today (June 2) said that it would rule within two weeks on whether to ban New York-based hedge fund Tiger Asia<
Hong Kong’s high court today (June 2) said that it would rule within two weeks on whether to ban New York-based hedge fund Tiger Asia from trading in the city and freeze assets considered to be a result of insider dealing, reported Reuters. Tiger Asia’s CEO, Bill Hwang has asked the judge to dismiss the SFC’s lawsuit with Charles Sussex, the hedge fund’s lawyer, saying that it wasn’t appropriate for a civil court “to determine what is essentially a criminal offence”. The SFC says it has to use a dual approach to institute criminal proceedings but also take remedial action to ensure investor protection by securing any profits made from insider trading. The SFC alleges that Tiger Asia engaged in insider dealing and market manipulation in the shares of China Construction Bank Corp (CCB) and Bank of China in ’08 and ’09. It wants USD4.9million in assets frozen and a ban on Tiger Asia from trading Hong Kong securities. Simon Westbrook, a lawyer for the SFC, said: “This is a blatant case of insider dealing that happened on more than one occasion by the same outfit.” Tiger Asia sold short 93million shares in CCB after they’d been approached to take part in the share placement the SFC said but Hwang denied any wrongdoing in an October letter to investors and said the firm was co-operating fully with the US regulator.
