The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has commenced Market Misconduct Tribunal proceedings against three senior executives of Taste•Gourmet Group Limited and five relatives, employees and close associates over alleged share price manipulation. The alleged scheme sought to raise and maintain the company’s share price at around HKD 1.32 to meet the HKD 500 million minimum market capitalisation requirement for its proposed transfer from GEM to the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. The SFC alleges that chairman and co-founder Wong Ngai Shan, chief executive officer and co-founder Chan Wai Chun, and then-chief financial officer Yu Man To Gerald Maximillian directed or coordinated trading by the other five people between June 1 and September 18, 2020. During that period, the share price rose 86%, from HKD 0.73 to HKD 1.36. Alleged manipulative activity included aggressive purchases near market close and orders that moved or determined the closing price. On six days, the trades in question accounted for all trading in the company’s shares. The allegations also cite communications about target prices and order placement, alongside substantial fund transfers followed shortly by share purchases. Taste•Gourmet’s shares first closed above HKD 1.32 on July 27, 2020, and the company announced its formal transfer application on August 5, 2020. The proposed transfer did not proceed as envisaged, and the company remains listed on GEM. The tribunal will determine whether market misconduct occurred and who engaged in it.

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