Chinese securities regulator active in intl cooperation on cracking down frauds

Chinese securities regulator said on April 27 it has communicated with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on cross-border supervision cooperation after the accounting fraud by Luckin Coffee Inc, a coffee chain retailer, was exposed.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said it supports overseas securities regulators to investigate and penalize accounting frauds of listed companies within their jurisdictions.

Under the cooperation framework such as the multilateral memorandum of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the CSRC has provided audit working papers of 23 companies listed overseas to a number of overseas regulators.

Luckin Coffee, domiciled in the Cayman Islands, registered to issue shares via an overseas regulator and listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market in May 2019.

Starting in the second quarter of 2019, Luckin Coffee's chief operating officer and several employees engaged in certain misconduct, including fabricating certain transactions, the company has announced, citing an internal investigation.