For some of Sebastian Lim Qian Ji’s victims, he was not a stranger making an investment pitch.
He was family or a friend.
On 19 August 2026, the 33-year-old pleaded guilty in the State Courts to eight counts of cheating and a traffic-related offence. Prosecutors said he cheated 21 victims, including his father and friends, of more than S$3.8 million between February 2021 and September 2022.
Around S$860,000 was eventually returned to some victims, leaving total losses of about S$2.9 million.
Prosecutors Say Money Was Returned to Keep Victims’ Trust
Deputy public prosecutors Jordy Kay and Chan Wayde said in court documents that the returned money was not voluntary restitution motivated by remorse.
Instead, prosecutors said Lim returned money to build victims’ confidence in him so that he could continue cheating them. They also said he used proceeds from the offences to gamble and to pay creditors of a frozen food company.
Court documents stated that Gerald Lee Hai Rui, 32, was the sole director of Geroy, a company that was facing financial difficulties in early 2021.
Lee sought Lim’s help in obtaining loans from Lim’s friends. Lim agreed, and the cheating offences subsequently took place from February 2021 to September 2022.
The court documents did not state how Lim and Lee knew each other.
Secondary-School Friends Lost S$694,100
The largest amount involved a married couple, both aged 33, who had been Lim’s secondary-school friends.
On at least six occasions between December 2021 and 22 March 2022, Lim falsely told the couple that he was involved in projects associated with places including the Singapore Sports Hub and that funding was needed.
He told them that if they loaned money to Geroy, their principal would later be returned and they would receive rates of return that were far higher than those generally available in the market.
Prosecutors said the projects did not exist.
The couple handed Lim a total of S$694,100. He later returned S$226,500 to them.
His Father Passed the Claims on to Three Friends
In another instance in early 2022, Lim falsely told his 59-year-old father that he was involved in projects that required funding and that loans to Geroy could produce attractive returns.
His father did not know the claims were false and passed the information on to three of his own friends.
Those three people subsequently gave Lim’s father a combined S$430,000 over several occasions, which the older man then handed to Lim.
Lim also directed victims to hand over cash or transfer money through intermediaries, including his mother and his then-girlfriend. The intermediaries would then pass the money to him.
He Also Drove While Disqualified
Separately, Lim had previously been convicted of drink driving and was disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for two years, from 22 December 2022 to 21 December 2024.
Despite the disqualification, he drove a car and was involved in an accident on 17 November 2024, according to court documents.
He was arrested 11 days later and has remained in remand since then.
Lim is due to be sentenced on 20 August 2026.
