SINGAPORE: Three top executives of online trading platform Samtrade FX were charged in court on Wednesday (Dec 17) for engaging in fraudulent practices and money laundering.
Goh Nai De, Goh Li Xing and Alfred Yue Jingyuan allegedly engaged in a conspiracy in which Yue fraudulently tilted trades in certain trading accounts to make those accounts appear profitable, the police said in a news release on Wednesday.
These accounts were used in one of the products offered by Samtrade FX called “copy trading”. This allowed clients to “copy” the trades executed by certain trading accounts.
Most of the clients’ copy trades ultimately copied the trades in 11 accounts, named “Ultimate Trader” accounts, which were controlled by Yue, said the police.
Between Jan 1, 2021, and Dec 27, 2021, Yue adjusted the bid-ask spreads of trades in those accounts so that the copied trades appeared profitable to Samtrade FX clients, without them knowing the trades were fraudulently tilted.
A bid-ask spread is the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to offer and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept.
