Court of Appeal Upholds 36-Year Sentence for Soh, 20-Year for Quah in Singapore's Largest Stock Market Manipulation Case

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Convictions and Sentences Upheld for Masterminds Behind Singapore’s Largest Stock Market Manipulation

Joint Statement by Attorney-General’s Chambers, Singapore Police Force and Monetary Authority ff Singapore

9 April 2026… On 18 March 2026, the Court of Appeal (CA) upheld the sentences of 36 and 20 years’ imprisonment meted out to Mr Soh Chee Wen (also known as John Soh) and Ms Quah Su-Ling respectively for orchestrating an elaborate scheme to manipulate the shares of Blumont Group Ltd, Asiasons Capital Ltd and LionGold Corp Ltd, the largest market manipulation case in Singapore’s history. In October 2025, the CA had dismissed of their appeals against their convictions.

2 Both Mr Soh and Ms Quah had appealed against their convictions and sentences following their trial in the High Court, where they were convicted of 180 and 169 charges respectively. Details of the sentences are in Annex A.

3 In dismissing the appeals against their convictions, the CA affirmed the High Court’s findings that the duo masterminded the scheme to artificially inflate the market and manipulate the prices of the three counters using an extensive web of 187 trading accounts. The CA further found that the duo had practised a deception on Goldman Sachs International and Interactive Brokers LLC, by representing to them that the shares of the three counters were legitimate collateral for margin financing, despite knowing that the shares were the subject of manipulative trading practices.

4 In dismissing the appeals against their sentences on 18 March 2026, the CA rejected Mr Soh’s arguments that the crash of the three counters’ prices in October 2013 was caused by factors beyond his control. Describing Mr Soh’s actions as having “caused very significant harm to the market and its stakeholders”, and having “severely harmed Singapore’s reputation as a financial hub”, the CA found that Mr Soh had carefully orchestrated the manipulative scheme to “subvert the very purpose for which the {Securities and Futures Act} was introduced, namely, to regulate market activities and to ensure transparent dealing in the market”. As for Ms Quah, the CA acknowledged her relatively lower culpability compared to Mr Soh and took the view that due weight had already been accorded by the High Court in sentencing her.

5 Capital market abuse strikes at the core of Singapore’s financial integrity and threatens to undermine trust in and stability of the financial market. The authorities take a strict view of any attempts to abuse Singapore’s capital markets and will pursue those who do so, to safeguard Singapore’s reputation as a safe financial hub.

• SPF AGC MAS Joint release annex (98.7 KB)