Visi Money
TLDR: Future FinTech shares fell as much as 20% in Friday premarket trading after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged CEO Shanchun Huang with manipulative trading and failure to disclose beneficial ownership.
The charges stem from Huang’s allegedly suspicious activities in the stock market just before assuming the role of CEO in 2020. The SEC claimed that he engaged in manipulative trading using an offshore account in Hong Kong. Huang allegedly purchased over 530,000 shares within two months, executing trades that significantly impacted the daily trading volume. The SEC contends that his actions were designed to inflate Future FinTech’s stock price.
After becoming CEO in March 2020, Huang was required to disclose his holdings of Future FinTech stock. The SEC alleges that he failed to file the necessary forms for the year after assuming the CEO position. The complaint further claims that, even after divesting all Future FinTech stock in March 2021, Huang submitted a misleading form, falsely representing that he owned no stock.
The SEC’s complaint charges Huang with violating antifraud and beneficial ownership disclosure provisions. It seeks permanent injunctive relief, a civil penalty, and an officer-and-director bar. Ahead of the opening bell, Future FinTech’s shares were down 16% at $1.08.
