New Twist in the Lawyer Who Ran Away with $33m As CAD Officers Seized a Director’s Passport

By
George Yang
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It doesn’t matter whether you live in Yishun or Mars; you’d have seen this picture before.

Image: JLCADVISORS

The lawyer, Mr Jeffrey Ong, is a senior lawyer from law firm JLC Advisors. This guy became a millionaire overnight when he went missing with a whopping $33.2 million that doesn’t belong to him.

If you need a recap, here’s a concise one: Singapore-listed engineering firm Allied Technologies engaged JLC Advisors to manage an escrow account, a fund that’s used by lawyers to safe-keep a buyer’s fund during sale of property.

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Just think of it as the funds kept when you’re buying something from, say, Shopee: Shopee would keep the fund when you’ve made payment, and when you receive the product, they will then release it to the seller.

You can see that during the “delivery” period, the money is being kept by a third party (in this case, Shopee).

Long story cut short, JLC Advisors’ Jeffrey Ong allegedly took the money and “ran road”.

So, in this case, Jeffrey Ong is the bad guy, right?

That’s why his face is plastered all over the Internet?

Here’s the twist.

CAD Raided Allied Technologies’ Office

When such a big amount disappeared, you can bet that stakeholders would step in.

For a start, the Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) has taken over funds that are held by JLC Advisors. Apparently, Allied Technologies has been asking JLC Advisors since March to release the funds but for some reason, they weren’t.

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LawSoc would also be conducting an investigative audit on the client accounts of JLC (yes, that means not just Allied Technologies’ money but all money held by the law firm).

A police report has since made by Allied Technologies and yesterday, more information was revealed.

Apparently, officers from the Singapore Police Force’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) had went to Allied Technologies to conduct their investigations, and that include seizing information, records and documents related to Allied Technologies and its subsidiaries.

Okay, normal.

They also seized information about the escrow account with law firm JLC Advisors.

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Very, very normal.

Executive Director Interviewed

Well, of course they’d have to talk to the chief. Leave no stone unturned, eh?

However, other than just interviewing Mr Kenneth Low, the Executive Director of the listed company, they also took his laptop and phone for investigative purposes.

Oh.

Maybe there are some malware in his phone that led to this ordeal lah.

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But on the next day, Kenneth also had to surrender his passport.

Image: giphy.com

It’s unknown why passport is required; maybe CAD needs to check if his passports weigh the same as other Singaporeans’ passports.

We won’t know because according to Allied Technologies, “CAD has not disclosed to the Company any further details of its investigation.”

Mr Kenneth Low, One of the Directors That Cannot Make Decisions for the Company Temporarily

Since Jeffery’s sudden leap to another world, Allied Technologies’ board has recused three directors from all decisions and recommendations, and Kenneth is one of the directors.

They won’t act as the signatory to the accounts of the company and its subsidiaries. (i.e. cheque not signed by them). Also, one of them (not Kenneth) used to be the signatory to the escrow account with JLC since its establishment.

Lawyers Running Away with Money Haven’t Been Caught

In the last twelve years, there has been two other cases of lawyers running away with client’s money.

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One was in 2006 that involved $11 million; the lawyer even left behind his three children.

The other was in 2007 which involved $11 million.

And these overnight millionaires still holidaying somewhere in planet Earth as they’ve not been caught.

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]