FSA blocks Hungarians from 'share price manipulation'

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has taken out a High Court injunction to stop an alleged share price scam.

The markets regulator said it had taken action against three Hungarian and Swiss residents, and the Swiss- and Seychelles-based companies they used.

Szabolcs Banya, Tamas Pornye and Gyorgy Brad are suspected of making £1m profit via "layering" - placing bogus orders to artificially raise or lower prices.

The injunction freezes their assets and blocks them from market manipulation.

They operated via companies named Da Vinci Invest and Mineworld from August 2010 until July this year, when the FSA says it first took out an injunction.

According to the FSA, the traders would place large block orders in order to influence market prices up or down, trade on these manipulated prices and then cancel the original block orders.

"This injunction shows that the FSA will take swift and decisive action to protect the integrity of UK markets, wherever those seeking to abuse them are based," said Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime.

The BBC was unable to contact Da Vinci Invest for comment.

The FSA's announcement comes a day after it revealed that it had fined another company for employing the same banned technique of "layering".

The Canadian day-trading firm Swift Trade, which was wound up in February, had to pay out £8m, after it was found to have profited £1.75m by illegally manipulating share prices.