Greece’s securities regulator Capital Market Commission a 4 million euro ($4.64 million) fine on luxury jewelry maker Folli Follie on Thursday. The fines stem from violations dealing with market manipulation and failure to provide requested financial data for 2017, the commission said according to media.
The fines were imposed on nine individuals representing embattled Athens-based jewelry and accessory manufacturer and retailer Folli Follie and former top executives.
The ASE-listed company’s chairman of the board, Dimitrios Koutsolioutsos was fined 1.2 million euros, while its CEO, Georgios Koutsolioutsos, was also fined the same figure. The company itself was fined 600,000 euros, note Greek media.
Folli and the executives, including chairman Dimitrios Koutsoulioutsos and chief executive George Koutsolioutsos, manipulated the market because they did not provide data confirming 242.5 million euros cash reserves reported in the 2017 financial statements, the Hellenic Capital Market Commission said in a statement.
“In those financial statements, the individuals provided information which gave false or misleading indications about the company’s share price,” the statement said.
The Capital Market Commission explained its decision saying that the company and its officials manipulated the market since they failed to produced the documents to confirm the amount of 242.5 million euros in cash reserves according to the 2017 group results of Folli Follie. Therefore, “through those financial reports, these persons supplied information that gave false or misleading indications about the stock price of the company,” according to the decision.
Folli declined to comment on the fine, notes reuters on its Thursday report.
Folli has said the claims in the report were unfounded and misleading.
Folli’s shares plunged in May after the report and the regulator suspended their trading on May 25 after the firm failed to provide requested financial data.
A Greek prosecutor has ordered a preliminary investigation into the company.
Last month, Folli obtained a temporary court injunction to protect its assets from its creditors.
However, sources told kathimerini that they believe the temporary protection will not prevent judicial authorities from freezing the group’s bank accounts.
