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South China Morning Post
23-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Singapore jails mastermind behind US$10.9 million fake wine investment scheme
A man behind a multimillion-dollar wine investment scheme in Singapore that caused investors to lose more than S$14 million (about US$10.9 million currently) was jailed for seven years and two months on Thursday after being on the run for 13 years. Advertisement Eldric Ko, 51, was the CEO of Premium Liquid Assets (PLA), which he incorporated in October 2005 to distribute, sell and broker sales of fine wines. However, when it became clear that the business was not sustainable, Ko, a Singaporean, decided to cheat investors out of their money and postpone PLA's liabilities. From 2008 to 2011, the accused and a co-conspirator, Koo Han Jet, devised and carried out the scheme, which involved the use of what the prosecution called a 'carefully constructed network of shell entities and overseas accounts' and legal documentation to 'create a veneer of legitimacy to the company's operations'. Ko misappropriated S$12.67 million of investors' funds, and squirrelled away S$8 million for his and Koo's personal benefit, Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Tay said. Advertisement 'No restitution was made, and the hundreds of investors remain saddled with their losses to date,' she told the court. Based on investigations, more than S$14 million was paid by victims of PLA's scheme, with more than 200 people affected.
The Star
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Jail for man in Singapore who used bogus wine investment scheme to pocket S$12.67mil of investors' funds
SINGAPORE: A man, who set up a company that dealt with wines, and an alleged accomplice devised a fraudulent investment scheme involving the beverage to cheat over 200 investors of millions of dollars between 2008 and 2011. Based on police investigations, victims linked to the company's fraudulent sale of wines paid more than S$14 million in total. Eldric Ko, 51, who incorporated Premium Liquid Assets (PLASG) in October 2005 and jointly ran its business with Koo Han Jet, went on to misappropriate $12.67 million of the investors' funds. Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Tay said that Ko, a Singaporean, then squirreled away $8 million for his and Koo's personal benefits. On Thursday (May 22), Ko, who has not made any restitution, was sentenced to seven years and two months' jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving more than $10 million, and two counts of dealing with his ill-gotten gains. Twelve other charges were considered during his sentencing. Koo is still at large after he left Singapore in May 2011. DPP Tay told the court that Ko was PLASG's sole director and shareholder until Jan 2, 2009. After that, he installed his stepfather as its nominee director, even though the latter played no role in the company's business. Court documents stated that PLASG offered wine investment schemes to members of the public, purporting to source for wine from various suppliers in France and sell the beverage to investors. After operating the business for a few years, Ko realised that PLASG was selling more wine than what the company could purchase. Part of the reason was because the business was not making enough profits to cover its costs for items such as marketing and rental. DPP Tay said: 'The accused knew that, with the way that he and Koo were running PLASG's business, PLASG had growing liabilities to its investors, which were more than PLASG's assets, and which PLASG could not fulfil. 'In the accused's words, there was a 'hole' that kept getting bigger.' She added that in response to PLASG's growing liabilities to investors, the pair devised the 'En Primeur (EP) wine investment scheme' under the company in 2008. The prosecutor said that the two men then entered into a conspiracy to trick investors into believing that PLASG would transfer ownership of EP wines to them. The investors would be dishonestly induced to deliver monies to PLASG for the purchase of these EP wines. DPP Tay said: 'The accused and Koo never intended the EP scheme to be a genuine wine-selling scheme... (They) never intended to purchase the EP wines that they had purported to sell to investors, and they, in fact, never sourced for EP wines from any suppliers.' According to court documents, the two men then entered into a conspiracy to commit CBT by misappropriating the investors' funds under the EP scheme. On Aug 7, 2008, Ko incorporated a shell entity in the British Virgin Islands called Grand Millesimes Limited (GML), which had no actual business activities and was not a real wine supplier. The prosecutor said the two men agreed to use GML as a fictitious supplier of wines for the EP scheme. She added that as part the conspiracy, Koo forged invoices issued by GML, which purported to be for the sale of wine to PLASG before sending these invoices to Ko. Ko then used these forged invoices to justify his transfers of EP investors' funds from PLASG's bank account to another one in Switzerland belonging to GML. After that, he transferred the ill-gotten gains from the Swiss account to a third account in Singapore. DPP Tay said: '(Ko) deliberately chose to layer his funds transfers in this manner... because he believed that the Singapore police would not be able to obtain information about his overseas account and the illicit transactions. 'After the accused transferred the monies to (the third bank account), he distributed Koo's share of their illicit benefits from their criminal breach of trust offence... through illegal money remittance businesses and in cash.' Among other things, Ko misappropriated over $10 million in total between February and October 2009. Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light but from May 2011, the police received more than 240 reports against PLASG over its fraudulent sale of wines. Koo left Singapore on May 3, 2011, and Ko did the same 25 days later before the police started investigating the case. Ko's bank account in Switzerland was closed in November that year. He was arrested when he finally returned to Singapore in May 2024. Reasons for his return were not stated in court documents. - The Straits Times/ANN
AsiaOne
22-05-2025
- Business
- AsiaOne
Jail for man who devised bogus wine investment scheme, pocketed $12.67m of investors' funds, Singapore News
SINGAPORE — A man, who set up a company that dealt with wines, and an alleged accomplice devised a fraudulent investment scheme involving the beverage to cheat over 200 investors of millions of dollars between 2008 and 2011. Based on police investigations, victims linked to the company's fraudulent sale of wines paid more than $14 million in total. Eldric Ko, 51, who incorporated Premium Liquid Assets (PLASG) in October 2005 and jointly ran its business with Koo Han Jet, went on to misappropriate $12.67 million of the investors' funds. Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Tay said that Ko, a Singaporean, then squirreled away $8 million for his and Koo's personal benefits. On May 22, Ko, who has made no restitution, was sentenced to seven years and two months' jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving more than $10 million, and two counts of dealing with his ill-gotten gains. Twelve other charges were considered during his sentencing. Koo is still at large after he left Singapore in May 2011. DPP Tay told the court that Ko was PLASG's sole director and shareholder until Jan 2, 2009. After that, he installed his stepfather as its nominee director, even though the latter played no role in the company's business. Court documents stated that PLASG offered wine investment schemes to members of the public, purporting to source for wine from various suppliers in France, and sell the beverage to investors. After operating the business for a few years, Ko realised that PLASG was selling more wine than what the company could purchase. Part of the reason was because the business was not making enough profits to cover its costs for items such as marketing and rental. DPP Tay said: "The accused knew that, with the way that he and Koo were running PLASG's business, PLASG had growing liabilities to its investors, which were more than PLASG's assets, and which PLASG could not fulfil. "In the accused's words, there was a 'hole', that kept getting bigger." She added that in response to PLASG's growing liabilities to investors, the pair devised the "En Primeur (EP) wine investment scheme" under the company in 2008. The prosecutor said that the two men then entered into a conspiracy to cheat investors into believing that PLASG would transfer ownership of EP wines to the investors. These investors would be dishonestly induced to deliver monies to PLASG for the purchase of these EP wines. DPP Tay said: "The accused and Koo never intended the EP scheme to be a genuine wine selling scheme... (They) never intended to purchase the EP wines that they had purported to sell to investors, and they, in fact, never sourced for EP wines from any suppliers." According to court documents, the two men then entered into a conspiracy to commit CBT by misappropriating the investors' funds under the EP scheme. On Aug 7, 2008, Ko incorporated a shell entity in the British Virgin Islands called Grand Millesimes Limited (GML), which had no actual business activities, and was not a real wine supplier. The prosecutor said that the two men agreed to use GML as a fictitious supplier of wines for the EP scheme. She added that as part the conspiracy, Koo forged invoices issued from GML, which purported to be for the sale of wine to PLASG, before sending these invoices to Ko. Ko then used these forged invoices to justify his transfers of EP investors' funds from PLASG's bank account to another one in Switzerland belonging to GML. After that, he transferred the ill-gotten gains from the Swiss account to a third account in Singapore. DPP Tay said: "(Ko) deliberately chose to layer his funds transfers in this he believed that the Singapore police would not be able to obtain information about his overseas account and the illicit transactions. "After the accused transferred the monies to (the third bank account), he distributed Koo's share of their illicit benefits from their criminal breach of trust illegal money remittance businesses, and in cash." Among other things, Ko misappropriated over $10 million in total between February and October 2009. Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light but from May 2011, police received more than 240 reports against PLASG over its fraudulent sale of wines. Koo left Singapore on May 3, 2011 and Ko did the same 25 days later before the police started investigating the case. Ko's bank account in Switzerland was closed in November that year. He was arrested when he finally returned to Singapore in May 2024. Reasons for his return were not stated in court documents. [[nid:715819]] This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
CNA
22-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
Jail for man who siphoned more than S$12.5 million of investor funds through fake wine investment scheme
SINGAPORE: A man behind a multimillion-dollar wine investment scheme that caused investors to lose more than S$14 million (about US$10.9 million currently) was jailed for seven years and two months on Thursday (May 22) after being on the run for 13 years. Eldric Ko, 51, was the CEO of Premium Liquid Assets (PLA), which he incorporated in October 2005 to distribute, sell and broker sales of fine wines. However, when it became clear that the business was not sustainable, Ko, a Singaporean, decided to cheat investors out of their money and postpone PLA's liabilities. From 2008 to 2011, the accused and a co-conspirator, Koo Han Jet, devised and carried out the scheme, which involved the use of what the prosecution called a "carefully constructed network of shell entities and overseas accounts" and legal documentation to "create a veneer of legitimacy to the company's operations". Ko misappropriated S$12.67 million of investors' funds, and squirrelled away S$8 million for his and Koo's personal benefit, Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Tay said. "No restitution was made, and the hundreds of investors remain saddled with their losses to date," she told the court. Based on investigations, more than S$14 million was paid by victims of PLA's scheme, with more than 200 people affected. Ko pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust and two counts of acquiring property representing benefits from his criminal conduct. Another 12 charges of a similar nature, including cheating, were taken into consideration for his sentencing. THE SCHEME PLA offered a wine investment scheme which purported to source wine from suppliers in France and sell the wine to investors. The company hired sales agents to solicit investors to purchase wine from PLA in exchange for commissions. The company also gave investors access to view their portfolio of wines online and offered them the service of storing wines at a warehouse. It also offered to help them sell wines in exchange for a 5 per cent brokerage fee. After operating the business for a few years, Ko realised that the company was selling more than what it could purchase, in part because it was not making enough profits to cover its costs. "The accused knew that with the way that he and Koo were running (PLA's) business, (PLA) had growing liabilities to its investors, which were more than (its) assets, and which (PLA) could not fulfil. In the accused's words, there was a 'hole' that kept getting bigger," said Ms Tay. As a response to this, Ko and Koo decided to cheat investors under a specific scheme known as "en primeur", which involves buying wine futures. Investors were told they could buy wines which would only be bottled in around two years' time. After the wines were bottled, investors could receive three years of free storage in a warehouse in France, and the wines would be fully insured. Investors could only sell their wines after they were bottled. These investors were given an invoice stating their ownership, with an expected delivery date for their wines. Instead of being a genuine investment scheme, the pair only meant to buy time to put off PLA's liabilities to investors. In fact, they never even sourced the purported wines. The duo agreed to split the proceeds equally. SHELL ENTITIES CREATED On Aug 7, 2008, Ko incorporated a shell entity, Grand Millesimes Limited, in the British Virgin Islands to act as a fictitious supplier of wines. Koo then forged invoices from the company to PLA, purportedly for the sales of wines. In turn, Ko used these forged invoices to justify his transfers of investors' money from PLA's bank account to Grand Millesimes Limited's bank account in Switzerland. From there, Ko would disperse the money to different accounts he had access to, deliberately choosing accounts that he thought the Singapore police would not be able to obtain information about. He shared Koo's portion of the fraudulent gains through illegal remittance businesses and in cash. Ko later acquired his own illegal proceeds through fund transfers into the account of another shell company he created in July 2008. This company was called Premium Assets Management. It was meant to be a holding company and investment manager of a wine fund, but the fund never materialised. The company was also not licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to carry out business in fund management. More than 240 police reports have been lodged against PLA in relation to the fraud since May 2011. CAUSED "SEVERE HARM" Ko left Singapore on May 28, 2011, before police investigations commenced to avoid being caught. He was contacted by police via email requesting his return, but he did not respond to them. Ko only returned to Singapore on May 25, 2024, and was arrested. He has been in remand since and was produced in court via video link. Court documents did not specify the reason for his return. Meanwhile, Koo left Singapore on May 3, 2011 and has not returned. Seeking between seven years and seven years and seven months' jail for Ko, Ms Tay listed multiple aggravating factors, which she said far outweighed mitigating factors. She said Ko was dishonest from the outset and made sophisticated use of legal documentation to perpetrate the fraud. As the mastermind, Ko has the highest culpability, and he caused "severe harm" to hundreds of victims, said Ms Tan. Ko also remained at large for 13 years, she said.
Straits Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Jail for man who devised bogus wine investment scheme, pocketed $12.67m of investors' funds
SINGAPORE – A man, who set up a company that dealt with wines, and an alleged accomplice devised a fraudulent investment scheme involving the beverage to cheat over 200 investors of millions of dollars between 2008 and 2011. Based on police investigations, victims linked to the company's fraudulent sale of wines paid more than $14 million in total . Eldric Ko, 51, who incorporated Premium Liquid Assets (PLASG) in October 2005 and jointly ran its business with Koo Han Jet , went on to misappropriate $12.67 million of the investors' funds. Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Tay said that Ko, a Singaporean, then squirreled away $8 million for his and Koo's personal benefits. On May 22, Ko, who has made no restitution, was sentenced to seven years and two months' jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust (CBT) involving more than $10 million, and two counts of dealing with his ill-gotten gains. Twelve other charges were considered during his sentencing. Koo is still at large after he left Singapore in May 2011. DPP Tay told the court that Ko was PLASG's sole director and shareholder until Jan 2, 2009. After that, he installed his stepfather as its nominee director, even though the latter played no role in the company's business. Court documents stated that PLASG offered wine investment schemes to members of the public, purporting to source for wine from various suppliers in France, and sell the beverage to investors. After operating the business for a few years, Ko realised that PLASG was selling more wine than what the company could purchase. Part of the reason was because the business was not making enough profits to cover its costs for items such as marketing and rental. DPP Tay said: 'The accused knew that, with the way that he and Koo were running PLASG's business, PLASG had growing liabilities to its investors, which were more than PLASG's assets, and which PLASG could not fulfil. 'In the accused's words, there was a 'hole', that kept getting bigger.' She added that in response to PLASG's growing liabilities to investors, the pair devised the 'En Primeur (EP) wine investment scheme' under the company in 2008. The prosecutor said that the two men then entered into a conspiracy to cheat investors into believing that PLASG would transfer ownership of EP wines to the investors. These investors would be dishonestly induced to deliver monies to PLASG for the purchase of these EP wines. DPP Tay said: 'The accused and Koo never intended the EP scheme to be a genuine wine selling scheme... (They) never intended to purchase the EP wines that they had purported to sell to investors, and they, in fact, never sourced for EP wines from any suppliers.' According to court documents, the two men then entered into a conspiracy to commit CBT by misappropriating the investors' funds under the EP scheme. On Aug 7, 2008, Ko incorporated a shell entity in the British Virgin Islands called Grand Millesimes Limited (GML), which had no actual business activities, and was not a real wine supplier. The prosecutor said that the two men agreed to use GML as a fictitious supplier of wines for the EP scheme. She added that as part the conspiracy, Koo forged invoices issued from GML, which purported to be for the sale of wine to PLASG, before sending these invoices to Ko. Ko then used these forged invoices to justify his transfers of EP investors' funds from PLASG's bank account to another one in Switzerland belonging to GML. After that, he transferred the ill-gotten gains from the Swiss account to a third account in Singapore. DPP Tay said: '(Ko) deliberately chose to layer his funds transfers in this he believed that the Singapore police would not be able to obtain information about his overseas account and the illicit transactions. 'After the accused transferred the monies to (the third bank account), he distributed Koo's share of their illicit benefits from their criminal breach of trust illegal money remittance businesses, and in cash.' Among other things, Ko misappropriated over $10 million in total between February and October 2009. Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light but from May 2011, police received more than 240 reports against PLASG over its fraudulent sale of wines. Koo left Singapore on May 3, 2011 and Ko did the same 25 days later before the police started investigating the case. Ko's bank account in Switzerland was closed in November that year. He was arrested when he finally returned to Singapore in May 2024. Reasons for his return were not stated in court documents. Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times' court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
