The regulator has issued proceedings against UK-registered, Swiss-based fund manager Da Vinci Invest Ltd and its related Singapore-based company, as well as Seychelles-registered Mineworld Ltd and certain individuals who traded for the companies.
The companies and individuals traded across a number of UK platforms and the regulator believes they made over £1m gross profit from this activity.
The FSA has accused the parties of committing market abuse by the manipulative trading technique known as “layering”, which creates a misleading impression of the supply and demand of shares.
Between August 2010 and July 2011, large orders were placed for shares with no genuine intention of allowing to trade. These misleading orders moved the share price up and down as the market reacted. The traders then took advantage of the price changes by repeatedly buying and selling the shares as the price moved, finally deleting the initial orders which had manipulated the price.
“This injunction shows that the FSA will take swift and decisive action to protect the integrity of UK markets, wherever those seeking to abuse them are based,” said Tracey McDermott, the FSA’s acting director of enforcement and financial crime. “These companies engaged in repeated cross-platform market manipulation, which the FSA will not tolerate.”
The injunction also freezes the assets of the companies.
The FSA’s investigation, and the associated court case, will continue.
