Man accused of cheating 17 people and a company of over $4.5m
A director of four firms allegedly cheated 17 people and a company of more than $4.5 million in total – comprising over US$500,000 (S$682,000) and more than $3.9 million – between 2019 and 2021.
At the time of the alleged offences, Ong Kai Min was a director at Singapore Index Trading Institute (Siti), Bookhero, OKM Holdings and a Vanuatu-registered firm called C7 Traders Vanuatu.
On Jan 7, the 42-year-old Singaporean was charged with 23 counts of cheating and one count of intentionally obstructing the course of justice.
In a statement, the police said C7 Traders Vanuatu purportedly operated offshore brokerage C7 Traders.
Between May 2019 and March 2021, Siti offered artificial intelligence trading schemes that traded financial instruments on behalf of investors through the C7 Traders platform, the police added.
“The cheating charges allege that Ong had dishonestly induced investors into transferring over (their money) to Siti and/or Bookhero by deceiving them that their monies would thereafter be transferred to (C7 Traders Vanuatu) for trading purposes.”
Between August 2019 and June 2020, Ong allegedly deceived a man on at least 20 occasions, claiming his money would be placed with C7 Traders Vanuatu for “trading purposes”.
The man is said to have transferred US$145,000 and more than $409,000 to Bookhero’s bank account.
In October 2020, Ong allegedly cheated the victim of another $81,000.
Separately, he is said to have cheated a company called Kairos Management of US$260,000 and $362,100 over at least seven occasions between September 2020 and January 2021.
Ong allegedly used a similar method to cheat his other alleged victims until February 2021.
On or around March 3, 2021, he allegedly obstructed the course of justice by instructing a person called William Neo to delete records such as e-mails and reformat the computers of Siti, OKM Holdings and C7 Traders Vanuatu.
The police said this purportedly took place before the investors received news about C7 Traders Vanuatu’s abrupt closure.
Ong’s case has been adjourned to Feb 4.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined. If convicted of intentionally obstructing the course of justice, Ong can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.
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