The court of first instance in Singapore has granted compensation orders submitted by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) against a group of boiler room fraudsters to refund their victims.
The scams involved three unlicensed companies based in and operating from the special administrative region, namely Broadspan Securities; Shephers Hill Partners Hong Kong; and Rich Futures (HK) Limited.
The three firms “solicited investors through cold calls to open trading accounts via their websites and to invest in securities and/or futures in 2014”, the SFC alleged.
They asked them to deposit the funds that were supposed to be invested into six Hong Kong bank accounts.
The regulator said that none of the investments promised were ever executed on any recognised exchange and that investors have not been able to recover any of their money.
Court action
In December 2014, the SFC obtained interim injunctions to freeze the six bank accounts holding the fraudulent proceeds allegedly carried out by the three companies.
Additionally, the watchdog managed to get restraining orders against the firms stopping them from carrying out unlicensed activities and suspending their websites in January 2015.
The SFC added: “The court has appointed administrators to receive and distribute the proceeds of the boiler rooms frauds remaining in the six bank accounts – approximately a sum of S$4.3m (£2.3m, $3.2m, €2.6m) – for the benefit of the investors on a pro rata basis.”
