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SINGAPORE – A lawyer who left Singapore after more than $ 33 million parked in his firm disappeared has received 19 new charges.
Jeffrey Ong Su Aun was charged Tuesday (October 20) with 14 counts of breach of trust as a lawyer involving more than $ 17.4 million, as well as five counts of cheating.
With this latest development, the 43-year-old Singaporean now faces a total of 31 criminal charges for breach of trust linked to nearly $ 70 million.
The Straits Times understands that this is one of the highest amounts to date in relation to such crimes.
By comparison, the six City Harvest church leaders were found guilty of wasting $ 50 million in church funds in 2015.
Ong also faces 45 other charges for crimes including forgery and cheating. They involve another $ 6 million.
He was the managing partner of the law firm JLC Advisors when more than $ 33 million in escrow went missing at the firm for a client, Allied Technologies.
The trust is an essential service in the capital markets that supports transactions such as mergers and acquisitions.
His latest charges related to breach of trust as a lawyer involve more than $ 17.4 million that JLC Advisors held in custody for the firm CW Group Holdings, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
He is charged with misappropriating the money in 2015 and 2016, and is said to have largely participated in a conspiracy with one Wong Koon Lup, the details of which were not disclosed in court documents.
According to the latest charges, Ong and Wong allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to cheat five times between 2016 and 2018.
In a statement Tuesday, police said: “The five counts of conspiracy to cheat were aimed at concealing the embezzlement from the CW Group board of directors, as well as the auditor of CW Group’s Singapore subsidiaries, Ernst and Young Solutions “.
Ong, who appeared in court via video link on Tuesday, was not offered bail. His case was postponed until November 25.
It first made headlines last year after the money disappeared and subsequently disappeared.
It was later learned that Ong had left Singapore for Malaysia in a private rental car on May 13 last year.
He moved into a hotel in Kuala Lumpur and became uncontactable three days later after he got rid of his mobile phone.
He was at the hotel when Royal Malaysian Police officers arrested him later that month. It was returned to Singapore on May 30 last year.
If convicted of breach of trust as a lawyer, you can be jailed for life or jailed for up to 20 years and fined.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to three years and fined.
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