Singaporean allegedly behind global insider trading scheme arrested at US request

A Singaporean man accused of being the leader of an international insider trading and money laundering scheme has been arrested here, following a request in June from the US.

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Ge Zhi, 33, was apprehended on July 3 and taken to the State Courts the next day, where he was ordered to be held under the Extradition Act.

The Straits Times understands the US will be filing extradition papers for him to be taken to the district court in Massachusetts.

Ge and his alleged co-conspirators are accused by the US authorities of pocketing tens of millions of dollars in illegal profits on the back of a securities fraud scheme.

They are said to have received non-public information about at least 10 companies whose shares were traded on the US stock exchange.

The information included financial performance and merger-and-acquisition activity of the firms, which they received from company insiders.

Ge is said to have recruited others to trade in the stocks, purportedly directing them on how to trade on the information and when to withdraw their proceeds.