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SINGAPORE — Her "clients" thought their money was being used in foreign exchange (forex) trading for profit but in reality, Wan Lai Kuan never intended to use the money in any genuine investments.
Instead, she partially repaid her "investors" with money obtained from other victims of the scam, thereby deceiving these victims into giving her fraudulent company Skycastle Capital LLP even more funds.
From 2015 to 2017, she cheated 18 clients and led them to put about S$2.2 million into Skycastle. After factoring in the repayments, the customers suffered a combined loss of S$860,065.
On Tuesday (Aug 30), the 34-year-old was jailed for five years and nine months, after she pleaded guilty to six counts of cheating. Thirteen similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
No compensation has been made to the victims because Wan is an undischarged bankrupt and has no means of paying them back, her lawyer Andrew Chua from Drew and Napier law firm said.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lee Wei Liang told the court that much of the proceeds she earned from her scam were spent on her personal expenses, which included her own cafe business and repayment of loans.
The court heard that Wan had started Skycastle with two partners Chan Xuan Feng and Ang Shi Yi in December 2014 as a fund management business. It ran forex trading by using leveraged, or borrowed, funds for profit.
Leverage is commonly used in forex trading as a way to accelerate returns but it can also magnify losses. It often involves borrowing money from a broker for investment by using an amount of cash as collateral.
Ang ceased to be a partner three days after registration, DPP Lee said. Court documents did not state why Ang had quit.
More at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/woman-ponzi-scheme-cheat-jail-1980381
