Civil Court orders return of ฿4.5bn to 11 brokers, seizes 1.5bn MORE shares

The Civil Court on Sunday ordered the return of 4.5 billion baht to 11 brokerage firms who were deceived into placing orders for 1.5 billion shares of More Return Plc (MORE) and its related warrant, MORE-R, in one of Thailand’s largest stock manipulation cases.

During a four-hour reading of the verdict, the court instructed the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) to use 5.376 billion baht — the proceeds from the sale of MORE and MORE-R shares on November 10, 2022 — to compensate the 11 brokers, who had advanced the funds for the transactions and were never reimbursed.

The court also ordered the seizure of the 1.5 billion shares in question as state property.

Following its investigation into the manipulation of MORE shares, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint on June 29, 2023, with the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) and AMLO against 32 individuals.

Among the accused was Apimook Bamrungwong, who allegedly conspired to manipulate the prices of MORE and MORE-R shares between July 19 and November 10, 2022. MORE-R refers to warrants or rights issues linked to MORE shares.

The court was told that Apimook used shares he already held as collateral for margin trading with the 11 brokers, enabling him to place orders for 1.5 billion MORE and MORE-R shares at the market’s opening on November 11, 2022, at 2.9 baht per share.

He then allegedly refused to honour the orders, leaving the brokers to absorb the significant losses.

Brokers to be reimbursed include:

• Krungsri Securities: approx. ฿900 million
• Kiatnakin Phatra Securities: ฿700 million
• SCBX: ฿400 million
• DAOL Securities: nearly ฿400 million
• Kingford Securities: nearly ฿400 million

Seized assets include:

• Apimook Bamrungwong: ฿405.644 million
• Akekapat Phornprapha: ฿1.808 billion
• Atipat Phornprapha: ฿676.76 million
• Oraphan Phornprapha: ฿122.939 million
• Samart Chuasiripattana: ฿195 million
• Wasan Chaowala: ฿55 million