Charges slapped on masterminds of penny stock scheme cast new light on old reports

SINGAPORE (Dec 12): Shortly after share prices of Blumont Group, LionGold Corp and Asiasons Capital, since renamed Attilan Group, collapsed in October 2013, wiping more than $8 billion off their combined market value, news reports began circulating that a number of individuals had suffered big losses and were involved in lawsuits.

Notably, The Edge Singapore (Issue 602, Nov 25, 2013) reported that Quah Su-Ling had filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs International, accusing the bank of a breach of duty and “dumping” shares she owned in the three companies in the market, starting on Oct 2, 2013, and effectively precipitating the collapse of the penny stocks. The share sales started after the bank demanded Quah repay her margin loan within 1½ hours on Oct 2, and issued a notice of default against her when she failed to do so. In April last year, Quah lost her suit, and the judge ruled that she pay Goldman, which had counter claimed, $15.5 million instead.

Quah, who was CEO of IPCO International at the time, was also named in a suit brought by Interactive Brokers in November 2013. Media reports said the US-based online securities brokerage was seeking to recover about US$68 million in losses stemming from the October crash. It sought to freeze the assets of Quah, as well as those of Neo Kim Hock, Peter Chen Hing Woon, Tan Boon Kiat, Lee Chai Huat and Kuan Ah Ming. Other defendants in the suit were two British Virgin Islands-registered companies — Sun Spirit Group and Neptune Capital Group.

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