Asia Tech Wire (June 20) -- A Hong Kong court on Thursday ruled that a man was guilty of offering paid investment advice on a Telegram group without a license.

The man, surnamed Wong, pleaded guilty to a charge of carrying on a business of advising on securities without a license and was fined HK$10,000.

The court also required him to pay the Securities and Futures Commission's investigation costs.

The man set up and managed a chat group on Telegram between January 2018 and May 2019, which was open to paid subscribers.

He posted comments and responded to subscribers' questions about the performance of the Hang Seng Index and various Hong Kong-listed securities in the Telegram group on each trading day.