Lately, fraudsters have been uncovered and even had television series created to dramatize their lives and maybe even gain sympathy. Two of them are Anna Delvey and Elizabeth Theranos. However, another fraudster has gained infamy, not in the U.S. but in Singapore. His name is Ng Yu Zhi. How did he pull off this Singapore Ponzi scheme?
Who is Ng Yu Zhi?
Ng Yu Zhi is a Singaporean businessman and investor. He was the director of Envy Asset Management and Envy Global Trading.
He persuaded clients to invest in him because of the quarterly profit of 15 percent that his investors would receive. And he explained they would trade nickel. After all, he found that nickel was undervalued and was valuable in batteries.
As word spread about this attractive investment scheme, many clients wanted to put their money in the Envy Group. Things appear to be paying off, considering his lavish expenses, such as a mansion and yacht. But everything will come tumbling down for Ng since his Singapore Ponzi scheme was tipped by investigators. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) received those tips and alerted the police regarding the matter.
The police first arrested Ng in February 2021. They questioned him about Envy and all of his activities. But he was released a few days later. However, in March 2021, he was charged with fraud. And it was found that the investments he received from clients were those used to buy his mansion, yacht, and even luxury cars.
At the time of the first charge, Channel News Asia reported in March 2021 that he owes investors S$1 billion (~$731 million) or even more.
Investor Alert List and Licensing Issues
Before the arrest, MAS put Envy on its investor alert list. On top of that, Envy didn’t secure a MAS license. It was found that the company didn’t need a license because their investments were on invested funds and physical assets. However, MAS was alerted of their activities because Envy claimed they were in the process of securing a license.
MAS reveals Envy did not apply for a license.
KPMG Audits Revealed
When he enticed investors to trade nickel with him, he mentioned that he was doing business with Poseidon Nickel. It was the company he was sourcing nickel. However, the Australian-owned company denied any involvement and was firm to KPMG auditors they had no business relationship with Ng.
Furthermore, they found irregularities in contracts regarding their claimed Poseidon Nickel partnership. Not only that, the signature of a well-known director did not match what was in the contract.
Aside from the contracts, they also noted movements of money done via wire transfer. Two banks were suspicious of Ng’s activities, namely, United Overseas Bank and OCBC Bank. Meanwhile, HSBC and DBS also found suspicious transactions but still considered Ng as their client.
Charges Against Ng Yu Zhi
On top of the first fraudulent trading and cheating charge, he was met with one more charge a month later, allegedly owing investors around S$8 million (~US$ 5.88 million). At this time, seven cases had been tallied. In June 2021, 12 more were filed against him, owing millions of Singaporean dollars to his victims. Four months later, he was charged with cheating again by more victims who came forward. Plus, in December 2021, prosecutors filed more against him.
On February 22, The Business Times provided a current tally of the charges against Ng. It’s at 93, equaling up to US$ 1 billion.
Obstruction of Justice
The Business Times has reported that a man helped Ng leave Singapore last August 2021 while the businessman had charges against him. The man allegedly helping Ng is Ang Yew Teck. And for committing this obstruction of justice, Ang can face up to seven years in jail or pay a fine.
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