Oceania Natural Former CEO Involved in Market Manipulation

Oceania Natural's former chief executive Walker Zhong, two of its directors Regina Ding and Sean Meng, and another individual with interim name suppression have been alleged of market manipulation and breaching disclosure obligation nine times.

Sources say the charges centre on the trading of shares in the honey company between May 2016 and April 2017. Oceania Natural got listed on the NZX's NXT market in March 2016, with Zhong attributing it to Chinese investors trust. However, in June 2018, the company delisted from the sharemarket.

Karen Chang, FMA head of enforcement said investigating and prosecuting market manipulators was a priority. "The FMA was brought and will continue to bring enforcement action where it finds potential evidence of market manipulation and potential breaches of disclosure obligations."

Last week, the FMA had announced that an accounted had admitted to accepting an offer of $150,000 and barred the person from managing any listed company for the next five years.