Top chef held for cooking stocks

Staff reporters

Renowned chef Wong Wing-chee has been arrested for using "ramp and dump" tactics to cash in on the stock price of his catering company Dragon King GP, sources said.

He has been arrested for involvement in the so-called "WeChat girls" investment scams, in which WeChat account users - often touted as pretty women and experts - claim their recommendations for certain stocks are based on exclusive tips from specialists, or even inside information, according to sources quoted by The Standard's sister publication Sing Tao Daily.

These users spread their recommendations on WeChat, the most common messaging application on the mainland, in a bid to drive up share prices of target stocks to induce unsuspecting investors to buy shares at artificially inflated prices.

The scammers then sell shares while leaving the innocent victims with losses.

Wong, 62, is commonly known is "Chee Gor" by locals.

He is also known as a renowned chef for his frequent appearances on television for cooking and tasting programs.

It is understood the Securities and Futures Commission coooperated in the operation with police.

Both the SFC and Dragon King has refused to comment. The police said there was no information to provide.

Dragon King announced that Wong resigned as executive director and chief executive in July, and resigned as a company director in September. His wife has also resigned.

Trading in its shares has been suspended since November 11, pending an announcement of its third-quarter results. Its share price closed at 8.2 HK cents.

Back on June 10, Dragon King shares plunged 80 percent from HK$2.20 to 24.80 HK cents amid reports that the catering group recommended its shares via stocks speculation groups.

Records show Wong sold the group's shares four times since June, getting around HK$86.4 million. He and his wife no longer hold any shares of the company after the last sale on August 24.

For the year ended December, Dragon King operated 10 Cantonese restaurants in Hong Kong, Macau and Shanghai under five brands - Dragon King, Dragon Seal, Dragon Gown, Imperial Seal and Dragon Feast.