The chief executive of Future FinTech Group, Shanchun Huang, denied allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that he artificially inflated the company’s share price before taking over as CEO, the Wall Street Journal reported. Through his attorney, Huang said Wednesday morning that he intends to fight the SEC’s lawsuit in court and provide evidence that he didn’t trade in Future FinTech’s stock before becoming CEO in March 2020. The agency alleged last week that Huang used manipulative trading techniques in early 2020 to push the fintech firm’s share price up, with the intention of preventing the stock from being delisted from the Nasdaq exchange for trading below the $1 minimum bid price. According to the SEC, the trades were placed after Future FinTech’s founder and former chief executive approached Huang about taking over as CEO. The securities regulator also alleges that Huang failed to make required filings about his ownership stake in the company until a year after he became CEO, by which time he no longer owned any company stock.
