At the Shenghua Securities Xiu Zhou Branch, Zhuo Libin arrived at work early in the morning.
As the general manager, it was quite rare for him to come in so early. At just thirty-three years old, he was full of vigor and successful in his career, with a promising future.
The reason he could hold such a position at such a young age was primarily due to his outstanding ability, but more importantly, one of the directors at the head office was his brother-in-law.
He had worked in this position for almost three years, and the performance of the branch was fairly steady. Due to the geographical and demographic reasons, Xiu Zhou’s performance had always ranked in the top five nationwide.
During his tenure as general manager, the Xiu Zhou Branch’s performance continued to maintain a top-five ranking for the first two years.
However, if you ask whether he wanted to break into the top three or even become number one, of course, he did. But due to geographical, demographic, and economic development factors, it had been difficult to break into the top three.
For this reason, Zhuo Libin had previously resigned himself, planning to work here for a few more years, build up his experience, and then see if he could leverage his brother-in-law’s connections to move up to the head office.
However, this changed a few months ago when the marketing manager reported the situation of a major client to him. This major client made several times the investment return in two consecutive transactions.
This major client was Chen Feng. When Zhuo Libin learned of this, he reviewed Chen Feng’s entire stock trading process.
At that time, Chen Feng had already made two trades, selecting three stocks in total and making several times the profit from all three.
Anyone with common sense would know that this was too bizarre and abnormal, not to mention the professionals like them.
If you bought multiple stocks, and two or three of them were this kind of skyrocketing stocks that soared soon after you bought them, people might suspect a bit but still, choose to believe in your good luck or your strong stock trading ability.
But Chen Feng made two trades, buying only three stocks each time, and all three skyrocketed right after, continually hitting the limit up, and plummeted right after he sold. How could one claim not to have inside information or be involved in insider trading? It seemed impossible.
Even those who didn’t understand stocks would suspect this, let alone the professionals.
Interestingly, Chen Feng was a completely new client who had never traded stocks before, at least not using an account registered under his name.
This made it even stranger. How could a newbie just enter the market and become this impressive, with all the stocks (three) he bought skyrocketing, making so much in such a short period? How was that possible?
In any case, Zhuo Libin didn’t believe it.
Thus, after Chen Feng’s second transaction ended, he was already listed as an unusual client by Shenghua Securities, though reporting such a matter was optional. Ultimately, Zhuo Libin chose not to report it.
After all, reporting it wouldn’t benefit him or the company and might even bring some disadvantages.
Firstly, it involved insider trading and three stocks from different industries. The depth of this was unknown, and if reported, it might end up causing trouble for himself and the company.
Secondly, it was challenging to confirm such matters, and if the charges couldn’t stick, he and Shenghua Securities would be in trouble, especially losing a major client at the Xiu Zhou Branch.
In conclusion, reporting Chen Feng, a major client suspected of insider trading, had only drawbacks and no benefits for him and his branch. Zhuo Libin easily chose to continue monitoring discreetly.
Then, with daily monitoring, he finally awaited Chen Feng’s third trade and, without hesitation, used several backup accounts to follow suit and buy shares.
Securities company employees are prohibited from trading stocks, but it’s a regulation known to be publicly ignored, as they often use accounts registered under the names of relatives or friends, who then hand them over for usage.
This time, biting the bullet, Zhuo Libin used five million split across three accounts to buy Baofeng Technology stocks following Chen Feng.
Then, a miracle occurred. Baofeng Technology began to skyrocket for nearly two months after Chen Feng bought in, barely dropping during this period.
This allowed Zhuo Libin to make a substantial profit, though he was privately regretful, thinking that if he had been more decisive, he could have mobilized more funds to continue buying Baofeng Technology. Yet he held back, and only felt genuine regret after Chen Feng sold and reaped another significant profit.
However, he made up his mind at that time. The next time Chen Feng made a move, he would increase his investment, ensuring not only personal gain but also more performance results for the Xiu Zhou Branch.
It would be beneficial both publicly and privately.
After making this decision, one day, his subordinate manager suddenly scrambled to inform him that the police were investigating Chen Feng and had pulled his stock account information.
Zhuo Libin was startled. Knowing that he had followed Chen Feng in buying Baofeng Technology, if Chen Feng was indeed involved in insider trading, then the accounts he manipulated would obviously be implicated. Not to mention his subordinate manager who did the same.
If this were thoroughly investigated, neither he as the general manager nor his subordinate manager would escape.
Zhuo Libin and his subordinate manager both seemed to sense the impending grim fate awaiting Chen Feng and the possibility that they themselves could be collateral damage.