(Yicai Global) Jan. 12 -- China’s securities regulator issued this year’s first penalty last week, banning two investors from market trading for three years for manipulating the stock price of video conferencing systems provider Avcon Information Technology.

Xiong Mochang and Wu Guorong were also fined a total of nearly CNY4 million (USD618,335) for manipulating Avacon’s stock [SHE: 300074] via 196 trading accounts, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement on Jan. 6.

Xiong, Avcon’s second-largest shareholder, reached an agreement with Wu in 2017, asking him to influence the Shenzhen-listed company’s price by buying and selling its stock, according to the CSRC. But the offenders made nothing from the scheme, and in fact lost over CNY300 million (USD46.4 million).

Between July 2017 and June 2018, Wu used 186 personal and 10 institutional trading accounts to manipulate Avcon’s shares, during which time the price jumped 11.8 percent to CNY7.1 (USD1.10). Between them, the accounts owned as much as 22.3 percent of Avcon at one point.

With Xiong’s 9.78 percent stake, the pair owned about 30 percent of the firm, but failed to issue a tender offer to Avcon’s other shareholders as required, the CSRC said in its statement.

Shanghai-based Avcon, as a supplier of video-conferencing products and applications, listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in April 2010. Its shares fell 1.1 percent today to close at CNY3.65 each.

Editor: Peter Thomas