American market maker Susquehanna International sues 100 mysterious short sellers, profiting $100 million from insider trading through Futu and Tiger Brokers

American market maker Susquehanna files a lawsuit, alleging a group of unknown traders had prior knowledge of Chinese regulatory crackdown on cross-border brokers like Futu and Tiger Brokers.
On July 2, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating insider trading allegations brought by Susquehanna International Group. In a lawsuit filed June 29 in Manhattan federal court, Susquehanna claimed that before Chinese regulators cracked down on cross-border brokers like Futu and Tiger Brokers on May 22, unknown insider traders purchased put options on U.S.-listed Chinese brokerage stocks, using approximately $12 million in costs to gain at least $100 million in profits. As the main counterparty to these trades, Susquehanna suffered losses of over $70 million. A federal judge on the same day approved the freezing of related accounts and allowed subpoenas to be issued to Interactive Brokers, Futu, and Tiger Brokers' parent company UP Fintech to obtain account holder identities.
Previously, Futu was fined 1.85 billion yuan in regulatory penalties, and founder Li Hua's net worth evaporated $1.7 billion in a single day.
The scope and stage of the SEC's investigation remain unclear; regulatory scrutiny could end without enforcement action, and the SEC declined to comment. Susquehanna has sued 100 anonymous defendants, acknowledging they do not yet know the traders' identities but arguing that such "high-risk, high-reward" options bets can only be reasonably inferred as insider trading.
Susquehanna is one of the world's leading market makers, with equity positions exceeding $893 billion in the first quarter. Co-founder Jeff Yass ranks on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $93 billion.