10 investors convicted of violating Capital Market Law, obligated to pay above SAR 96M

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) announced that the Appeal Committee for Resolution of Securities Disputes (ACRSD) issued a final decision against 10 investors for violating Article (49.a) of the Capital Market Law and Article (2.a) of the Market Conduct Regulations.

They were fined a total of SAR 860,000, besides being obligated, along with other investors, to pay more than SAR 96 million against illegal gains resulting from these violations.

According to ACRSD’s decision, the violators are Ibrahim Aljunaidli, Ahmad Alyahya, Ismail Alhathlol, Khaled Alshlash, Daham bin Hamoud Aldaham, Abdulrahman Aloraini, Abdulmalik Alsukait, Ali Alothaim, Majed Alromi, and Sulaiman Alothaim.

They were all convicted for solely and collectively of entering buy and sell orders aimed at influencing some stock prices.

They also made several sell orders for the purpose of achieving higher closing bid prices when trading on the shares of TASI-listd Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development Co. during the period between Feb. 3, 2019, until Dec. 5, 2020, through their investment portfolios or others under their management.

These violations constituted manipulation and fraud. They created a false and misleading impression on the security of the abovementioned company, it statement added.

The ACRSD obligated the 10 convicted individuals (named above) to pay SAR 64.2 million against illegal gains achieved in their investment portfolios as a result of the violations for which they were convicted.

In addition, a number of other investors were obligated to pay a total amount of SAR 31.9 million to the CMA's account, against the illegal gains achieved in their portfolios from the illegal trading committed by the convicted persons: Ismail Alhathlol, Ali Alothaim, and Majed Alromi, given their exploitation of such illegal trades.

Additionally, the ACRSD ruled to impose a fine of SAR 860,000 on the convicted individuals and banned all of them from trading by purchasing shares, directly or indirectly, in the local capital market for periods ranging from two to three years.