Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission withdraws limitation notice on three brokerage firms, restricted assets in the China Huarong Health case will be returned.

On December 29, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong has withdrawn the restriction notices issued to three brokerage firms, which prohibited them from disposing or dealing with funds or assets in specific client accounts. These accounts were related to false or misleading information disclosed by Huahan Health Industry Group Limited (Huahan) in its financial statements. The three brokerage firms involved are Changjiang Securities (Hong Kong) Limited, HAITONG INT'L Securities Limited, and Golden Sun Securities Limited. Two former senior executives of Huahan, Zhang Yue (male) and Deng Jie (male), had investment companies Bull's-Eye Limited (BEL) under their names, which had accounts opened with the three brokerage firms. The restriction notices were intended to preserve the assets held by the two individuals in these accounts. After an investigation, the SFC revealed that funds raised by Huahan's fundraising activities had been misappropriated, with some of the funds deposited into the accounts opened by BEL at the brokerage firms mentioned above, prompting the regulatory actions. The SFC has referred the case to the police's Commercial Crime Bureau for further investigation. Earlier, the police successfully prosecuted Huahan's former CFO and company secretary for money laundering related to the misappropriation of funds. In view of this, the SFC has withdrawn the restriction notices so that the liquidators of BEL (which is currently being wound up) can return the restricted assets to the affected parties. The three brokerage firms mentioned above are not the subject of the SFC's investigation, and the restriction notices do not impact their operations or their other clients.