Mantel and the company were convicted earlier today at the Tsuen Wan Magistrates’ Court on four charges of issuing advertisements to promote the scheme, called the Pacific Sun Greater China Equities Fund.
The company was fined HK$20,000 (£1,500, $2,500) and Mantel was sentenced to four weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months.
Mantel and Pacific Sun Advisors had initially been acquitted by the Eastern Magistracy in March last year. However, these acquittals were both overturned in January after the SFC successfully argued the acquittals were based on “legal errors”.
The SFC alleged that, between November and December 2011, the defendants issued one or more advertisements on the website of Pacific Sun promoting the Pacific Sun Greater China Equities Fund, without its authorization.
The SFC also alleged, on or around 2 and 3 November 2011, the defendants issued an advertisement regarding the launch of the fund to the public by email, again without its authorization.
Pacific Sun and Mantel managed to gain an acquittal in March 2013, after arguing the advertisements fell within an exemption that applied to sales limited to professional investors.
However, the SFC has now proved that the exemption did not permit advertisements that had not been authorized by the SFC to be issued to the public and that in this case there was no evidence that the interests in the fund were only intended or had only been sold to professional investors.
