The Court of Appeal on Wednesday dismissed appeals against the sentences of two individuals linked to Singapore’s largest market manipulation case, which caused S$8 billion (US$6.2 billion) in losses to the stock market in 2013. Malaysian former businessman John Soh Chee Wen and his former partner Quah Su-Ling will serve jail terms of 36 years and 20 years respectively.
Penny Stock Crash Sentences Upheld
Soh and Quah were convicted of 180 and 169 charges respectively after a lengthy trial. They artificially inflated the share prices of Blumont, Asiasons, and LionGold between August 2012 and October 2013, utilizing 189 securities trading accounts.
The majority of the charges against them involved deceiving financial institutions by concealing their involvement when issuing orders and trades. Soh was also found guilty of witness tampering, having asked four witnesses to provide false statements to investigators following the stock market crash.
The scheme collapsed on Oct. 4, 2013, resulting in a S$8 billion loss in market capitalization from the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
The appeals were heard by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Tay Yong Kwang, and Senior Judge Andrew Phang. Soh’s lawyers argued the sentence was disproportionate and that certain factors were wrongly considered as aggravating circumstances. Quah similarly downplayed her role in the scheme.
The court rejected both arguments and dismissed the appeals entirely.
The court also imposed a personal costs order of S$10,000 against Quah’s lawyer, Sivanathan Nithyanantham, for repeatedly making “spurious allegations of bias” against the trial judge and minimizing the seriousness of those claims after being reprimanded. He had made the allegations without Quah’s instruction, and apologized for them in November 2025, withdrawing the claims and offering a written apology to the court.
The Chief Justice acknowledged the apology lessened the misconduct but did not absolve it.
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