Businessman Who Was Involved in S$1B Nickel Trading Fraud Faces 5 More Charges of Cheating

By
Megan
-

Do you remember the businessman who was charged for cheating investors of up to S$1 billion in what is now the largest financial fraud case in Singapore? 

He is now facing even more charges for cheating. 

Here’s all that you need to know.

Businessman Who Was Involved in S$1B Nickel Trading Fraud Faces 5 More Charges of Cheating

Ng Yu Zhi, 33 is the director of Envy Asset Management (EAM) and Envy Global Trading. 

Neither of his companies is licensed under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 

EAM had claimed that it was in the process of applying for a license, but the MAS had not received any application for a license from the firm. 

Additionally, since March 2020, EAM had been on MAS’ investor alert list. 

Ng had previously been charged with two counts of cheating and another two of being a party to fraudulent trading amounting to around $48 million. 

On Tuesday (20 April), he was charged with five more counts of cheating in relation to the fraud. 

He had raised the sum with the help of investors, supposedly to finance a nickel trading scheme. 

Investors were promised varying returns averaging 15% over a period of three months for their involvement. 

Around $300 million out of the $1 billion invested in the companies between October 2017 and February 2021 had gone into Ng’s personal account, and around $100 million worth of assets has been seized from him by the Commercial Affairs Department. 

Ng is represented by Mr Navin Thevar from Davinder Singh Chambers. He is currently out on bail of $1.5 million, which is allegedly the highest bail imposed since electronic monitoring was made a requirement of bail back in 2018. 

Ng has to comply with a 10pm-6am curfew and he also has to continue wearing an electronic tag for monitoring purposes as a condition of bail. 

Investigations against Ng are currently still underway and his case is scheduled to be heard again on 17 May. 

If Ng is convicted, he could face imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine for each count of cheating.

He could face imprisonment of up to seven years, fined up to $15,000 or both for each count of fraudulent trading. 

Many Parties Cheated by Ng

Ng had allegedly cheated two parties into paying at least $48 million to Envy Global Trading for contracts with another company regarding the sale of nickel. 

However, it was found that there were no such contracts in the first place. 

Additionally, he had cheated investors into lending money to EAM to purchase nickel from mining firm Poseidon Nickel Limited, when in fact no such purchase was made. 

Ng had also cheated a MAS-licensed fund manager, Envysion Wealth Management, of $48 million. 

You can read more about it here.

Featured Image: AlexLMX / Shutterstock.com

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Megan
Email: [email protected]