Court declares in SC’s favour in Iris manipulation case

29 August 2017 | Kuala Lumpur

The High Court today declared in favour of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) against six foreign defendants for their role in the manipulation of Iris Corporation Berhad (Iris) shares in 2006, marking the end to the civil suit filed by the SC in 2008.

Today’s outcome is in addition to the High Court’s earlier decision on 16 June 2017 in favour of the SC against another defendant in this suit, Richard Benjamin Cohen for his role in the same manipulation. Cohen, a former research analyst at Aeneas Capital Management L.P was also ordered to pay the SC a sum of RM50,000 in costs.

Cohen, together with the six defendants, namely Aeneas Capital Management L.P, Priam Holdings Limited, Aeneas Portfolio Company L.P, Acadian Worldwide Inc, Thomas R. Grossman and John Suglia, are now permanently barred from trading in any counter on Bursa Malaysia.

Iris, a manufacturer of smart cards for electronic passports and electronic identification cards, was, at the material time and is still listed on Bursa Malaysia. The SC had alleged that the defendants had colluded in the manipulation of the Iris shares over a period of 44 days. The manipulation had caused the price of Iris shares to rise from RM0.08 to a closing high of RM1.36 per share with an average of 200 million shares being traded daily over that period.

All seven defendants were declared to have conspired to manipulate the share price of Iris in breach of sections 84(1), 85(1)(a) and 87A of the Securities Industry Act 1983.

SECURITIES COMMISSION MALAYSIA