Former Pawnshop Boss Jailed & Fined for Misappropriating Over S$5.4M From Shop

Some are born with common sense, some learn common sense, and others have common sense thrust upon them by the government.

Whether we believe it to be an immoral act or avoid doing it because of the legal consequences, you and I would never steal money from our company, for example, because we know better (or at least… I hope we do).

But when the promise of riches are within reach, some people simply cannot say no, like one former pawnshop boss.

Former Pawnshop Boss Misappropriated Over S$5.4M From Shop

The now 35-year-old man, Li Yong De, first joined Sin Lian Pawnshop as a valuer and became a director in 2010. He then went on to become its managing director.

This role entailed valuing luxury watches and jewellery and conducting daily checks on the pawnshop’s cash float.

In 2011, the pawnshop’s shareholders set up a peripheral business called Sin Lian Watch & Jewellery to buy unredeemed pledges from the pawnshop.

Li wanted to buy over this new business, and so he had two options:

1. Use his own money
2. Take a bank loan

But of course, he went for secret option number 3: steal from his company. 

As a managing director, he was entrusted with funds in the shop’s bank account as well as its cash float.

So, in 2013, Li made unauthorised cash cheque withdrawals amounting to $350,000 from the pawnshop’s UOB account in 2013 to buy over the new business.

He then changed the firm’s name to Prestige Watches & Jewellery.

In order to avoid detection, Li misappropriated 30 watches from Prestige worth $200,000 and pawned them to Sin Lian Pawnshop using another person’s name.

This made it seem as if Sin Lian Pawnshop had given his business a loan of $200,000 with the 30 watches pledged as collateral.

So, what about the remaining $150,000? Well, he used funds from the pawnshop’s cash float for that.

Li continued to misappropriate money from the pawnshop in this manner for several years, and the amount eventually grew to S$5.4 million.

But that’s not all he did.

Duped UOB Into Handing Over S$1 Million

By creating fake pawn tickets using different names, Li had created the impression that the pawnshop “had given out loans in exchange for pledges when there were no such pledges in reality,” the prosecution said.

Because he did this, the shop’s monthly returns showed an inflated total stock value of pledges at Sin Lian Pawnshop.

Between February 2014 and April 2018, Li used these monthly returns to get a higher line of credit from UOB that he would have otherwise been allowed.

In total, the 35-year-old duped the bank into handing over over $1 million, most of which Li pocketed.

He even used $77,000 of the misappropriated funds to settle the down payment for a Mercedes-Benz car.

He also used the funds to gamble at local casinos and for his personal expenses.

Jailed For 14 Years

Li’s offences were uncovered after the pawnshop conducted an audit in 2018.

Li was asked to submit supporting documents, but he delayed doing so. When confronted during a shareholders’ meeting on 11 Aug that year, he finally admitted to the offences.

Previous audits did not find any irregularities.

Yesterday (31 May), the 35-year-old was sentenced to 14 years in jail and a fine of S$60,000.

His stint behind bars will be extended by 20 weeks if he is unable to pay the amount.

Li pleaded guilty to eight charges, including criminal breach of trust and cheating. Fifteen other charges were considered during sentencing.

He has made no restitution to Sin Lian Pawnshop. Yikes.

Feature Image: karanik yimpat / Shutterstock.com