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S’porean in US illegal trading probe bought $150k watch while allegedly working with criminal group
Dev Ananth Durai was named as the medical director of Manila-based clinic Empire Centre for Regenerative Medicine in 2015. PHOTO: THE PHILIPPINE STAR
SINGAPORE - Singaporean Dev Ananth Durai has been linked by authorities in the United States to a number of insider trades made between 2018 and 2020, in an ongoing insider trading probe.
Prosecutors said the 39-year-old, who is accused of moving funds for an international criminal network, had also allegedly told an unnamed person that he made US$250,000 (S$327,000) in one trade.
That person, identified in court documents as CC12, was one of 12 suspects in the probe who were not named, but were identified as having lived in Singapore.
The Straits Times has separately confirmed that Dev is the son of Mr T.T. Durai, a former CEO of the National Kidney Foundation.
Dev is a wanted man in the US, after an arrest warrant was issued by the District Court of Massachusetts in connection with the insider trading probe.
The US authorities also found that while he was allegedly in the thick of illegal trading action, he filed and won a lawsuit in 2019 in Nevada over a Richard Mille watch that he had paid US$115,000 for but never received.
He was eventually awarded full damages.
In Singapore, Dev dabbled in a number of businesses, including one that was registered to his parents.
He is still listed as a director of two firms in Singapore – a software development firm incorporated in November 2013, and a management consultancy outfit registered in August 2023.
Complex operation
Charged were filed on Nov 1 in Boston against eight suspects in the criminal network, including Dev, fellow Singaporean Ge Zhi.The group included French national Samy Khouadja, who is said to be the ringleader, and German national Emma Safi, who co-owned a restaurant in Paris with Khouadja.
The restaurant was allegedly used to receive laundered funds.
The authorities also linked 12 individuals, who were identified as CC1 to CC12, and eight others, who were not identified, to the probe.
Key members of the group including Ge, Khouadja and Safi held meetings in locations from Vienna, the Czech Republic and Paris to Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, used burner phones and code words to conceal their activities.
Prosecutors in Boston said the group recruited investment bankers and corporate insiders, and tapped them for confidential information on publicly traded companies between 2016 and 2024.
In exchange, the insiders received a share of the profits.
Members of the group then laundered the funds through cash payments, international financial transactions and shell companies, including a firm in Singapore set up by Ge.
Dev allegedly joined the group in 2018, prosecutors said. In one text message exchange in October 2018, he asked Julien Liu, another suspect in the case, if Liu knew who “Sam” was.
He was asking about Khouadja, a former banker at Merrill Lynch in France.
Ge Zhi, a Singaporean man, is alleged to have been the leader of an international insider trading and money laundering scheme. PHOTO: JOSH GE/FACEBOOK
Prosecutors said Dev communicated and received privileged insider information only from Liu and another suspect, French national Christophe Dong.
In a text message to the suspect identified as CC12, Dev allegedly said he had struck a deal with one of the suspects. He allegedly claimed that in exchange for insider information, he would give half of the profits he made on illegal trades.
US prosecutors said both Liu and Dong had received insider information from Khouadja and Safi.
Prosecutors said that the text messages Dev allegedly sent showed he was aware his actions were illegal.
In one exchange, CC12 asked Dev if he had ever lied to the suspects about how much he traded. Dev said he never lied, but to make more money, he allegedly decided to recruit CC12.
“That’s why I tell you the tip also. So you can buy and help me subsidise my payment to him,” Dev said in a text message to CC12 on Aug 27, 2018.
According to prosecutors, several suspects then tapped Dev to help them execute the trades.
In October 2018, Dong contacted Dev to ask him if he was willing to make a US$200,000 trade based on insider information, on behalf of some of the other suspects. Dev allegedly agreed to do it.
Court documents did not state if Dev made a profit for himself on the trade.
It was around this period that Dev allegedly helped to wire some €60,000 (S$90,300) in proceeds from Liu’s insider trading to Singapore firm Belleby Holding in October 2018. It was done on Liu’s behalf.
Ge, 34, owned and controlled Belleby Holding. His wife is now the sole director in the firm.
Around January 2019, Dev allegedly attempted to send more than US$100,000 to a Hong Kong bank account controlled by Dong.
When the transaction was rejected, he texted Dong to alert him that the bank had denied the transfer due to its money laundering laws.
To facilitate the transfer, Dong sent him a sham loan agreement, explaining in the form that Dong had loaned money to Dev, and the Singaporean was simply repaying the loan.
According to prosecutors, Dev became increasingly concerned around October 2019 that the insider trade would be noticed by the banks, even as the group continued to bet their trades on privileged information, allegedly raking in tens of millions of dollars in profit.
In one instance, Dev told CC12 that he should start making his own trades instead of through CC12’s brokerage account, which was managed by an investment bank.
Dev allegedly later told CC12 to open an online brokerage account as he was worried that the banks would pick up on illegal trades.
“You figure something la. Cannot use UBS anymore. Banks are required to declare suspicious trading activity. This is a serious matter,” he allegedly said.
Articulate man
A former acquaintance of Dev described him as a “nice and pleasant guy” when they were both studying at Singapore Management University (SMU) in 2007.“We knew his dad was T.T. Durai, so he came from a comfortable and good upbringing. But there was always a chip on his shoulder because back then the media was abuzz with the NKF scandal,” said John (not his real name).
He said Dev would grow visibly uncomfortable when other students cracked jokes about the case.
In 2005, NKF was dragged into some controversy over alleged excesses, including the remuneration package of Mr Durai who was CEO at the time, and claims that included overstated patient numbers, which gave the impression that more funds were needed for NKF’s operations.
John said Dev made the school’s dean’s list several times, but he also enjoyed partying.
He said they did stay in touch after graduation and Dev joined his father in the Middle East for work.
“He is obviously a smart guy... if he had taken the legitimate route, I am certain he would have done well,” said John.
Dev remains at large, while Ge was arrested in July 2024 in Singapore and has since been held in Singapore under the Extradition Act. Safi was arrested in Zurich and has been extradited to the US.
The rest of them including Khouadja and Liu remain at large.
Prosecutors said Ge recruited individuals to trade on privileged information and guided them on when to withdraw their proceeds.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) told ST that while Ge has already been arrested, there are no other individuals that are currently being investigated in Singapore in relation to the case.
SPF is awaiting “more information from the US authorities to assess whether any offences might have been committed under our laws”, said the police.
