Taiwan famous show host Dee Hsu’s father-in-law admits to insider trading charges

Dee Hsu’s father-in-law admits to insider trading charges

Friday, October 4, 2013 – 10:51

The China Post/Asia News Network

TAIPEI, Taiwan — District prosecutors yesterday said Hsu Hsun-ping (徐洵平), chairman of Genome International Biomedical Co. Ltd. (GIBC), admitted during a questioning session that he participated in insider trading. From Wednesday morning through to Thursday morning the Taipei District Prosecutors Office questioned Hsu Hsun-ping, his wife Jiang Li-fen (姜麗芬), talk show host Dee Hsu’s (徐熙娣, also known as Little S) husband Mike Hsu (許雅鈞), and her father-in-law Hsu Ching-hsiang (許慶祥) over allegations of gaining profits through insider trading. The four of them hold GIBC shares.The four were released yesterday morning on bail of between NT$2 million (S$85,000) and NT$5 million (S$212,500), and were ordered not to leave the country.

The prosecutors’ office said that aside from Hsu Hsun-ping, the other three denied the allegations.

During the questioning session, Hsu Hsun-ping admitted to the charges to prosecutor Kao Yi-shu (高一書) and said he was willing to return the gains made through illegal trading in exchange for a reduced punishment.

In August, the prosecutors’ office investigated a case of false advertising concerning the Top Pot Bakery chain. In its advertisements, the bakery claimed that its products were made with zero artificial essences, later found to be a false claim. Prosecutors later discovered what they alleged to be illegal trading involving GIBC, the bakery’s holding company.

Taipei prosecutors said the four persons of interest allegedly bought a large number of GIBC shares after the firm became Top Pot Bakery’s holding company, before Dee Hsu began endorsing the bakery. GIBC’s stock price rose sharply from NT$59 (S$2.50) per share in 2012 to over NT$200 (S$8.50) per share in March and April 2013. The rise in share price coincided with GIBC becoming Top Pot Bakery’s holding company.

The prosecutors’ office noted that after learning that GIBC was not performing well in the middle of this year, the four sold a large quantity of their shares within a few days before negative reports went public, thereby avoiding losses of about NT$200 million (S$8.5 million) .

So far there is no evidence suggesting Dee Hsu was directly involved in insider trading, therefore she will not be questioned over the case, a prosecutor said. However, given that Dee Hsu is a spokesperson for Top Pot Bakery, the prosecutors’ office said they will summon her for questioning over the deceptive advertising charges.

Tseng Ming-chung (曾銘宗), chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), yesterday said that in 2012 the FSC noticed abnormal trading of GIBC stock, adding that the Over The Counter (OTC) has warned the public 21 times over the past year.

Tseng said the FSC will cooperate with the prosecutors’ investigation, noting that at the same time it has requested the OTC to inspect if there is any other insider trading related to the case.