The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has frozen the assets of certain unknown clients at Singapore broker-dealer Maybank Kim Eng Securities on suspicions of insider trading.
In a court order obtained on February 24 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleges that the Maybank Kim Eng customers made about $1.7 million in potentially illegal trading profits ahead of the announcement on February 14 that Japanese tech giant the Softbank Group, had agreed to acquire New York-listed Fortress Investment Group.
The traders are believed to be overseas investors who used accounts outside the United States.
According to the SEC statement the asset freeze ensures that the profits cannot be removed from the accounts while the agency’s investigation of the trading continues.
Highly Suspicious Trading
finews.asia reported last month on the move by the Japanese firm to acquire the private-equity firm and asset manager Fortress Investment Group for about $3.3 billion in cash.
The defendants engaged in «highly suspicious trading» that involved buying 950,000 Fortress shares through accounts at Maybank Kim Eng Securities in Singapore, the SEC said.
