SFC sues Tiger Asia

Charges top executives for insider-trading.

The Securities and Futures Commission is suing founder Bill Hwang and executives Raymond Park and William Tomita.

It charges the defendants with trading on confidential information about two Chinese banks in 2008 and 2009, allegations the parallel those that Tiger Asia pleaded guilty to in the U.S. Tiger Asia closed last August.

SFC first brought charges in 2009, but the hedge fund successfully argued the SFC could not sue it or seek to have its principals barred without a tribunal or criminal court filing. Since Tiger Asia was based in New York and had no physical presence in Hong Kong, a criminal case seemed impossible.

The High Court of Hong Kong in May, however, ruled that the SFC was permitted to file the charges even without a tribunal or criminal-court finding.

Hong Kong’s Market Misconduct Tribunal will now determine whether Tiger Asia and its executives will be barred from trading, as well as potential monetary penalties.