New Silkroutes Group’s former finance director gets 12 weeks’ jail for manipulating company’s stock price

SINGAPORE — The former finance director of investment holding company New Silkroutes Group was on Monday (Sept 16) sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail for his role in manipulating the company’s stock price.
William Teo Thiam Chuan, 55, pleaded guilty on Monday to six charges of abetment by conspiracy under the Securities and Futures Act.
Another 25 similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Teo is the first of four men to be dealt with over their alleged role in the conspiracy, which was aimed at boosting investors’ confidence in various corporate transactions, and to raise more capital in the future.
The others are: Goh Jin Hian, 55, the company’s former chief executive officer; Oo Cheong Kwan Kelvyn, 53, the company’s executive director and chief operating officer; and Huang Yiwen, 40, the sole director and shareholder of a commercial market maker. 
Market makers are companies or individuals that constantly trade securities to keep a market liquid. While they can operate in the Singapore Stock Exchange, they are not allowed to manipulate share prices.
Goh, who is the son of former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, was handed 39 charges. Huang faces 112 charges, the most among the four men.
Teo will begin his sentence on Wednesday after he was granted a deferment to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival on Sept 17 with his family.
As finance director of New Silkroutes Group, Teo managed the company’s accounts and worked on matters related to funding, mergers and acquisitions.
He also had access to the company’s two share buyback accounts, and was allowed to buy the company’s shares using these accounts.
The prosecution, led by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kevin Yong, said that between Feb 26, 2018 and Aug 27, 2018, the four men allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to create a misleading appearance of the price of New Silkroutes Group’s securities.
They allegedly wanted to bolster the company’s share price to boost investors’ confidence to complete two memoranda of understanding the company had signed.
These were for acquiring two medical supply companies in China and for a company to subscribe to a convertible bond of S$5 million.
The conspiracy was also to allow for future share placements based on an attractive share price, claimed the prosecution.
To do so, the men would allegedly place orders and execute trades in New Silkroutes Group securities using the company’s share buyback accounts, Goh Jin Hian’s personal trading account and Huang’s company trading account.
DPP Yong said Goh Jin Hian had allegedly instructed Teo to find a market maker to support New Silkroutes Group share price, to which Teo introduced Huang to Goh Jin Hian.
After allegedly engaging Huang’s company, Goh Jin Hian, Teo and Oo gave Huang a target price of S$0.50 for New Silkroutes Group securities. Prior to this, the price was S$0.285.
The four men would allegedly communicate by text messages and emails to coordinate the scheme. They would discuss when to buy New Silkroutes Group securities and what price to push it up to.
DPP Yong told the court during the scheme, buy trades accounted for 28.78 per cent of total market volume. If not for their actions, the price of New Silkroutes Group securities would have closed lower on 22 trading days of the 31 days involved in the charges.
Of these 31 days, Teo used New Silkroutes Group’s share buyback accounts to trade on 13 days.
The prosecution sought a 12-week jail term, noting that Teo played a “critical role” as the finance director of New Silkroutes Group.
DPP Yong added that the scale of market rigging was “significant”, as the four men’s scheme caused “great distortion” to the market for the company’s securities.
There was also a high degree of planning and sophistication to the scheme, as Teo and the other three men would coordinate the scheme closely.
While Teo was not the mastermind — the prosecution claimed in its address on sentence that this was Goh Jin Hian — he repeatedly used the company’s share buyback account to purchase shares, said DPP Yong.
The prosecution added that Teo was also “deeply involved in the specifics of the price manipulation and paid close attention to the trading in order to ensure its success”.
Teo’s lawyers argued for a global sentence of not more than six weeks’ jail, describing Teo as an employee following instructions.
Mr Thong Chee Kun of Rajah & Tann Singapore said that his client had joined New Silkroutes Group just a month before the market manipulation scheme took place.
The lawyer argued that while his client was a finance director in name, he was not a board member and his remuneration was “just about S$10,000 a month”.
Teo had also been told by Goh Jin Hian that the fair value of the company’s securities was about 50 cents, Mr Thong told the court.
“Having just joined the company, there was no reason for William to doubt Dr Goh,” said the lawyer, adding Teo had no financial benefit from being part of the scheme.
Mr Thong added that his client is remorseful, and has not had meaningful employment since investigations began in October 2020.
For each charge, Teo could have been jailed up to seven years, fined up to S$250,000, or both.