Vietnam bans 17 individuals from securities trading for 2 years over stock manipulation

State Securities Commission, Vietnam's stock market watchdog, has banned 17 individuals from trading securities for two years for manipulating shares and lending trading accounts to facilitate the misconduct.

According to the commission, Bui Thi Phuong Thuy, a Hanoi resident, directly carried out share manipulation involving Phuong Anh International JSC (PAS) from early 2021 through the end of 2022.

Thuy used 19 trading accounts to conduct repeated buy-and-sell transactions to create artificial supply and demand, the authority said.

The accounts were lent by 16 other individuals, mainly based in Hanoi and the neighbouring provinces of Hung Yen and Bac Ninh.

PAS shares were highly volatile during the period of manipulation. From around VND10,000 in early 2021, the stock surged to as high as VND25,000 ($0.96) before falling fivefold within six months. Since late 2022, the shares have consistently traded below par value.

The commission said it did not detect any illegal gains from Thuy’s violations. However, she was fined VND1.5 billion ($57,760) and banned for two years from securities trading as well as from holding positions at securities firms and investment funds.

The remaining 16 individuals received similar bans, without monetary fines.

Under Vietnamese regulations, the most severe administrative penalty in the securities sector is a permanent ban on trading and holding related positions.

The regulator said it has uncovered multiple cases of stock manipulation in recent years, noting that a common feature has been the absence of identifiable illegal profits following inspections.

Late last year, the commission fined a Ho Chi Minh City-based individual for using 92 accounts to repeatedly trade shares of An Gia Investment and Development Real Estate JSC (AGG).

More recently, pop singer Khanh Phuong was fined VND100 million ($3,850) for selling shares of Song Da 1.01 JSC (SJC) without prior disclosure while serving as a member of the company’s board.

In one of the most notorious cases, former FLC Group chairman Trinh Van Quyet received seven years for "fraudulent appropriation of property" and a fine of VND4 billion ($153,000) for "stock market manipulation".