The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission announced civil sanctions against nine individuals for jointly manipulating the share price and trading volume of V.L. Enterprise Public Company Limited (VL). The Civil Sanction Committee ordered civil monetary penalties totaling THB 10,854,500, along with prohibitions on securities and derivatives trading and bans on serving as directors or executives of securities issuers and securities companies for specified periods. Following a referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the SEC’s investigation, the misconduct was found to have occurred between 6 December 2019 and 31 March 2020, involving coordinated trading designed to mislead the market about VL’s price or volume. The SEC described tactics including matched trades among the group, placing large buy orders at multiple price levels to obstruct other investors, and submitting buy orders during pre-opening and pre-closing periods to push prices higher. Sanctions include differentiated monetary amounts and bans: five individuals must pay civil penalties plus compensation equal to benefits and reimburse investigation costs, with 17-month trading bans and 34-month director/executive bans; three individuals must pay civil penalties plus investigation-cost reimbursement (THB 532,315 each) with the same 17-month and 34-month bans; and one individual must pay THB 532,315 with a 22.5-month trading ban and a 45-month director/executive ban. The sanctions take effect once the offenders sign consent letters; if they do not, the SEC will refer the matter to the public prosecutor to seek civil sanctions in the Civil Court, with statutory penalties not lower than those specified by the committee. Civil penalties and compensation for benefits from the offenses will be remitted to the Ministry of Finance as public revenue.

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