Singaporean insider trading suspect loses extradition fight
He faces six counts in the US of alleged securities fraud and money laundering offences
[SINGAPORE] Ge Zhi, the alleged leader of an international insider trading ring, lost his court challenge against a US extradition request.
Every legal requirement under the extradition act had been satisfied and he would be surrendered to the US, Singapore District Judge Cheng Yuxi said in a written ruling on Thursday (Oct 1).
Ge has spent the past two years fighting the bid for him to be surrendered to the US where he faces six counts of alleged securities fraud and money laundering offences. Each charge carries a maximum jail term of between five and 25 years in the US.
He has petitioned for Singapore to consider his mental state as well as being blind in one eye as reasons not to be extradited. The Singaporean’s application for bail was turned down in May. The judge said at that time Ge has not been treated for bipolar disorder for the past 10 years.
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 sought to conceal the illicit trading proceeds including by passing them off as “40 kg of meat” and disguising a US$300,000 transfer as payment to a fictitious antique watch dealer, said the Singapore ruling.
He has indicated he is not giving up the fight against extradition to the US just yet. Ge will not be waiving his right to apply for a review of detention, Judge Cheng wrote in the judgment. BLOOMBERG
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