SHANGHAI —
A complaint against a Chinese commercial vehicle dealer for alleged stock manipulation offers insights into practices being uncovered as U.S. market regulators tighten scrutiny of China-based companies that are traded on Wall Street.
AutoChina International, based in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang, rejected the accusations raised in a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the case was “without merit.”
The SEC alleges that AutoChina and 11 investors made hundreds of false trades between October 2010 and February 2012, aiming to boost trading volume in the company’s shares to help improve its prospects for obtaining financing.
The case is the third in less than two months as the SEC probes accounting and other practices by hundreds of Chinese companies that trade in the U.S.
