SINGAPORE: A man who participated in an arrangement to convert money into cryptocurrency was sentenced to 19 months’ jail on Tuesday (Apr 8).
Huang Wei-Ru, 37, pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct and one count of unauthorised access to computer material.
Another three charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
His co-accused, Yen Hsiao-Chuan, 42, faces four charges – two counts of assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct and two counts of unauthorised access to computer material. Yen’s case is ongoing.
WHAT HAPPENED
The court heard that Huang and Yen had been friends with each other from around 2017.
Sometime in March 2024, while Yen was on a business trip in China, he met a person known to him as “Jiao Shui”.
Jiao Shui informed Yen that he had a lot of money in China, and that he required assistance to convert his money to cryptocurrency.
He offered Yen a commission of 5 per cent if he assisted him in the matter.
As Yen was heavily in debt at the time, he agreed to do so.
Under the arrangement, Yen would collect various bank cards following instructions and travel to Singapore with them.
After arriving in Singapore, he would purchase gold using the bank cards and sell it to various individuals in exchange for cryptocurrency – United States Dollar Tether (USDT) – which would be credited into his cryptocurrency wallet.
He would retain 5 per cent of the cryptocurrency and transfer the remaining amount to Jiao Sui’s cryptocurrency wallet.
During one of their meetups, Yen told Huang about his arrangement with Jiao Shui and asked if Huang could travel to Singapore to carry out Jiao Shui’s instructions as he was unable to do so in May 2024.
As Yen owed Huang money at the time, Huang agreed as he thought that Yen would repay his debt through the commission earned.
Yen then introduced Huang to Jiao Shui over WeChat and Telegram.
According to court documents, both Huang and Yen did not take steps to ascertain the identities or physical location of the lawful owners of the bank cards which Jiao Shui delivered to them, as well as the stored funds associated with the said bank cards.
Huang has also never met Jiao Shui in person, and his Telegram conversation logs with Jiao Shui were automatically deleted after one day.
HUANG’S ENTRIES TO SINGAPORE
On May 4, 2024, at about 10pm, Huang entered Singapore with a bank card that Jiao Shui had arranged to be delivered to him by mail.
Around this time, Yen introduced Huang to a person named “Sheng Jie” and told him that Sheng Jie would be able to convert gold into USDT in Singapore.
Yen also added Huang to a Telegram chat group comprising Yen, Huang and Sheng Jie.
On May 6, 2024, Huang went to a Maxi Cash outlet in the Bedok area and purchased about S$50,000 worth of gold using the funds stored inside the bank card.
He then contacted Sheng Jie to arrange for an exchange of gold to USDT.
About an hour later, an unknown person with the Telegram username “Jin” contacted Huang, requesting him to provide details of his location and that he would be coming in a red car to collect the gold from Huang.
The exchange was done sometime after 9.11pm. Subsequently, an amount of USDT agreed between Jin and Huang was credited into Yen’s cryptocurrency wallet.
After deducting his commission and additional sums for his personal expenses, Yen then transferred the remaining USDT to Jiao Shui’s cryptocurrency wallet.
Huang left Singapore on May 7, 2024. Following Jiao Shui’s instructions, he also threw away the bank card.
A week later, Huang returned to Singapore with another bank card delivered by Jiao Shui and purchased about S$250,000 worth of gold using the funds stored inside the card.
Sheng Jie told Huang and Yen that he would transfer 157,667 USDT to Yen’s cryptocurrency wallet in exchange for the gold items.
Huang handed over the gold he had purchased to Jin however, Sheng Jie did not transfer the cryptocurrency to Yen’s wallet and became uncontactable.
Discovering that he had been cheated by Sheng Jie, Huang subsequently lodged a police report in Singapore.
Huang left Singapore on May 16, 2024, and disposed of the bank card.
According to court documents, Huang entered Singapore two more times in July 2024 to carry out the arrangement.
He was also involved in an arrangement to convert scam money into cryptocurrency.
DETERRING MONEY LAUNDERING
Given Singapore’s significant private banking and asset management sector, as well as its standing as a major international financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region, Deputy Public Prosecutor Darren Ang said there is a compelling need to deter money laundering offences.
“Money laundering is an indivisible part of international criminal activity and is detrimental to society. The unimpeded circulation of proceeds from crime will have a prejudicial effect on the fabric of society and the economy,” he said in his written submission.
Mr Ang sought an aggregate sentence of 30 to 36 months’ imprisonment, while defence lawyer Chooi Jing Yen sought an aggregate imprisonment sentence of not more than 10 months’ imprisonment.
For assisting another to retain benefits from criminal conduct, Huang could have been fined up to S$50,000 and/or jailed up to three years.