A French national has been indicted on charges of manipulating stock prices and inflicting losses of nearly $9 million on hundreds of South Korean investors, prosecutors said Friday.

According to the prosecution, the employee at the Hong Kong branch of a French investment bank is accused of rigging the price of a South Korean telecommunications company in June 2008 in a bid to block the early redemption of equity-linked securities sold to local investors.

ELS refers to hybrid debt securities whose returns are connected to the performance of an underlying equity.

The 38-year-old French worker allegedly placed dozens of sell orders on 360,000 shares of the telecom firm to keep the price from reaching the predetermined level that allows investors to sell them before maturity.

Through the alleged stock manipulation, the investment bank gained 1.5 million euros ($1.97 million), while more than 400 South Korean investors suffered a combined loss of 10.8 billion won ($8.84 million), prosecutors said. (Yonhap News)