An ex-Slaughter and May associate and her ex-Linklaters associate boyfriend have lost their bid to have charges of insider trading dismissed.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) alleges that while Young Bik Fung and Lee Kwok Wa were employed by the Magic Circle firms they used confidential information about their clients to make a killing by buying and selling shares.

Young, a lawyer in Slaughter's Hong Kong office, was working on secondment at Standard Chartered plc when, the SFC alleges, she learned that it was about to purchase Hsinchu International Bank. After allegedly tipping off Lee and his two sisters the four bought shares in Hsinchu. When the takeover offer went public and the share value rocketed they netted a total of £232k.

    A Magic Circle lawyer ordering red braces and brylcreem yesterday
 
The SFC says Lee repaid the favour a year later when he discovered Linklaters was advising on an offer to privatise Asia Satelite Plc and, the SFC alleges, he told his girlfriend and his sisters to buy shares in the company.

The couple had sought to have the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that the Hong Kong regulator lacked jurisdiction because the Hsinchu shares were traded in Taiwan. But this week their bid was dismissed.

Linklaters told Bloomberg that Lee left the firm in 2007, but otherwise, like Slaughters, it declined to comment on the "personal legal proceedings”.
Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 03 November 13 08:22

It is well known in HK that only conduct which does NOT involve insider trading needs to be reported