Were they not stood in the Huai’an Intermediate People’s Court, no one would have ever suspected that these seven ordinary-looking people were in fact financial predators who had manipulated the securities market, making hundreds of millions.
On 11 and 12 July, the largest shareholder of Wuhan Jinyun Laser Co., Ltd., a man surnamed Liang, was tried by the Huai’an City Procuratorate in Jiangsu Province.
Among the others were the legal representative of an investment-management company, the fund manager and account director of a fund-management firm, and the vice president of a communication-technology company.
During the trial, the procuratorate alleged that in March, 2019, the defendant, Liang, faced financial difficulties due to a drop in the Jinyun Laser stock price.
Liang provided that termed a “bottom warehouse”, conspiring to share the profits of stock manipulation executed by the other defendants.
It was found that Liang had reduced his holdings in Jinyun Laser by some 7,610,964 shares during the manipulation period. After deducting taxes and fees, the firm’s actual profit became ¥115,026,345.43.
On 27 August of last year, the Hubei Supervision Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission came to Jinyun Laser Company for an on-site inspection. In order to evade supervision and investigation, the defendants took to mobile phones, computer hard drives and WeChat messages, in attempts to delete evidence.
But it was still to be no good. On 16 February, 2023, Jinyun Laser announced that Liang had been arrested by the Huai’an Public Security Bureau the previous day.
After the incident, the bank and securities accounts of some involved were frozen as the law allows, with some choosing to voluntarily return their illegal income. Among the defendants, it was found that Liang had achieved ¥52 million in ill-gotten gains and the vice president of the communication technology company some ¥180 million.
Back in court, Liang, together with the other defendants and their counsels, cross-examined the evidence, while the prosecution and defence fully expressed their opinions under the auspices of the court. When it was all done, Liang and the others pleaded guilty, as the Yangtze Evening News reports.
Supervised by the Ministry of Public Security due to the huge nature of the case, after 2 days of public hearings, the court announced an adjournment for a sentencing date.
Wuhan Jinyun Laser is a high-tech enterprise dedicated to providing global users with small-to-medium-power laser-processing solutions. Its scope of business is R&D, manufacturing and the sale of laser-processing equipment. On 25 May, 2011, the firm was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (code SZ.300220).
