Singaporean accused by US of insider trading denied bail
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[SINGAPORE] The alleged leader of an international insider trading ring who’s fighting extradition to the United States was denied bail by the Singapore High Court.
Justice of the Court of Appeal Tay Yong Kwang on Tuesday (May 26) dismissed Ge Zhi’s bail application, agreeing with a lower court judge that he was a flight risk.
The 34-year-old Singaporean faces six charges in the US for alleged securities-related and money laundering offences. The US opposed granting bail for Ge, who has maintained his innocence, according to the ruling.
Ge is at the centre of an alleged international insider trading conspiracy that US officials say yielded millions of dollars in illegal profits. Ge, together with day trader Eamma Safi, unlawfully used market-moving tips between 2017 and 2024. The duo used their trading accounts and brokerage accounts concealed by other names, the US said in its complaint last year.
The scheme allegedly raked in more than US$17 million from a vast number of insider tips on more than 15 deal targets including Principia Biopharma and French utility Suez. None of the companies named in the complaints is accused of wrongdoing.
Ge, who’s remanded in Singapore, requested bail on the basis that he was sick or infirm. He is legally blind in his left eye due to a road traffic accident and suffers from bipolar disorder since his late teenage years, according to the ruling.
Justice Tay dismissed the application, saying Ge failed to show his conditions could not be safely managed in prison.
Ge described himself as a trader and an entrepreneur who was focused on creating card games, a business he “built from scratch through years of hard work”, according to court filings. BLOOMBERG
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