KUALA LUMPUR: Investment bank Maybank Kim Eng said it is assisting and cooperating with the United States’ District Court in an investigation into its clients who are suspected of involvement in stateside insider trading.
In an emailed statement to the New Straits Times, the bank said: "We are currently assisting and extending our full cooperation to the relevant authorities investigating this matter. We wish to clarify that neither Maybank Kim Eng, nor any of its employees, are a party to this litigation in the United States District Court, involving the securities of Fortress Investment Group."
It has been reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) froze the assets of Maybank Kim Eng's unidentified customers on suspicion of insider trading.
Published news reports state that on Feb 24, the SEC made an allegation that Singapore broker-dealer Maybank Kim Eng Securities’ customers profited as much as US$1.7 million from possible illegal trading activities before Feb 14, ahead of Japan's Softbank Group’s agreement to acquire New York-listed Fortress Investment Group.
The reports said that the Maybank customers involved are believed to have bought 950,000 shares of Fortress at prices ranging from US$5.92 to US$6.35 per share on Feb 14, before Softbank announced the acquisition, after US markets closed.
The published reports added that the Softbank-Fortress deal will see Fortress shareholders receiving US$8.08 per share, a 30 per cent premium, as Fortress closed at US$6.21 on that day.