The court found that between August 27, 2009 and September 2, 2009, [Yu Yau Ki] placed a series of buy and sell orders in relation to the shares of WLS Holdings Limited in a joint account with his wife. Almost all these transactions were wash sales and did not involve any change of beneficial ownership. As a result of these transactions, the nominal price of WLS shares rose about 5 per cent. Securities and Futures Commission
News release, March 24
Here is the big question of mystery. With how much money did this odious villain abscond when leaving the scene of this heinous crime? I ask because the SFC is normally quick to tell me, citing exact figures in dollar terms. These figures often strike me as a little on the, shall we say, ambitious, side but clearly someone goes to considerable effort to make detailed calculations. How dare I question the fruits of such hard work?
On this occasion, however, all we hear is that this share price 'rose about 5 per cent'. Could the reason for this unusual imprecision be that WLS Holdings, a vendor of construction bits and bobs, is a penny stock listed on the toy board and last traded at 18 HK cents a share? It wasn't much different at the time of the offences and 5 per cent would thus represent one cent a share. Of course, 5 per cent of 18 cents would actually be nine-tenths of one cent, which might explain the use of the word 'about' as in 'about 5 per cent'. You round up to one cent, you see.
But that's only for the 'nominal' price of the stock. Apparently there is also a real, as distinct from nominal, price for it. The people at the SFC have not enlightened me, however, and therefore I most leave you in the dark too.
Similarly, I cannot solve the mystery of how much money was involved in this crime. The reasons for judgment have yet to be posted on the Justice Department's website.
But let's cut to the chase. This criminal probably made no money at all. If he had done so the SFC would have been quick to tell us. And if he did make some money, I say that the amounts involved were so tiny, so ridiculously small, that the SFC was ashamed to disclose them.