Nvidia chip scandal: Singapore court adjourns US$390m fraud case as police examine new leads

Yahoo

7 hours ago

SINGAPORE, June 27 — Investigations into three men accused of fraud involving the suspected movement of Nvidia chips are still in the early stages, with Singapore prosecutors requesting more time to build the case.
Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 40, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, along with Chinese national Li Ming, 51, were charged four months ago in a case involving an estimated US$390 million (RM1.65 billion), according to a report published in Channel News Asia today.
The men did not attend Friday's hearing at the State Courts, where the prosecution sought an eight-week adjournment, citing ongoing investigations by police.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Phoebe Tan told the court police had been 'actively pursuing leads' and that the investigation had not progressed enough for a pre-trial conference.
While lawyers for Woon and Wei had no objections, Li's lawyer Andrew Chua questioned the need for a further delay and asked for the case to proceed to a pre-trial conference.
Tan said police had conducted 10 interviews since the last hearing on May 2, and had contacted both local and foreign agencies for evidence, with some responses still pending.
She added that police had examined only 35 of 53 electronic devices and were reviewing new documents that recently emerged.
Tan argued that moving to a pre-trial conference now would be premature, as the outstanding evidence could materially affect the charges.
Chua eventually withdrew his objection, and the court adjourned the case to August 22 with the possibility of setting pre-trial conferences then.
Woon and Wei each face two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud against Dell and Super Micro in 2024, allegedly misrepresenting that server equipment would not be redirected to unauthorised recipients.
Li is accused of defrauding Super Micro in 2023 and of unauthorised access to an OCBC corporate account for transactions involving the firm Luxuriate Your Life, which he controlled.
The trio were among nine individuals arrested in February after raids linked to suspected efforts to bypass US export controls and ship Nvidia chips from Singapore to China.