Pinned Post
The chairman of Prince Group, indicted over online scams, and his associates took advantage of Singapore’s reputation as a stable and predictable financial capital.
Singapore's central business district skyline in May. (Edgar Su/Reuters)
SINGAPORE — The co-working space, up on the eighth floor of one of this city-state’s many nondescript office buildings, included a few unique perks: a pool table, karaoke room and private cigar bar.
It was also a front for about a dozen companies that helped launder money on behalf of one of the biggest transnational crime syndicates in Asia, according to U.S. prosecutors, and one that allegedly made its billions by forcing trafficked migrant workers to scam people online.
The United States and British governments this month took their most significant action against the cyberscam industry when they sanctioned Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia’s biggest conglomerates, and its chairman, Chen Zhi, and froze their assets in…
SINGAPORE – Key members of an insider trading ring linked to transactions that ran into the tens of millions of dollars had moved some of the illegal proceeds through a firm in Singapore, The Straits Times has learnt.
The funds were eventually channelled into a bank account linked to a restaurant in Paris.
Charges were filed on Nov 18 against eight suspects in the network, including Singaporeans Ge Zhi and Dev Ananth Durai.
They are accused of trading on privileged information about the finances and merger plans of several publicly traded firms in the US between 2016 and 2024.
The men, who held meetings in locations from Vienna, the Czech Republic and Paris to Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, ran a complex operation that included the use of burner phones and code words.
Prosecutors in Boston said the group had recruited investment bankers and corporate insiders, to tap them for confidential information on publicly traded companies. 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.
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.
Court documents showed that Safi and Khouadja, a former banker at Merrill Lynch in France, had recruited Ge into the scheme some time in November 2016.
Ge then travelled to Paris to meet the pair at their restaurant on Nov 19, 2016, and after the lunch meeting, purchased a burner phone and number and started recruiting more traders into the scheme.
US court documents show it was Ge who allegedly recruited individuals to trade on privileged information. He also guided them on when to withdraw their proceeds.
In 2018, Durai was also recruited into the group. Prosecutors said he was trading on inside information by July that year.
Checks by ST showed that some of the illegal proceeds were channelled through Belleby Holding, a firm which Ge incorporated in Singapore in May 2018.
Court documents show Durai wired some €60,000 (S$90,300) – proceeds from insider trading – to Belleby in October 2018. The fund transfers were made on behalf of another suspect, Julien Liu.
According to US prosecutors, Ge controlled the bank account linked to Belleby, which he registered to his residence in Keppel Bay. Ge was a director of the firm until Nov 1, 2025.
The funds were eventually channelled to Safi and Khouadja’s restaurant in Paris.
Checks by ST found that Ge’s wife, a Latvian national, is listed as the current sole director of Belleby. Safi has been a majority shareholder in the firm since May 2022.
The German national is also a shareholder in EA Advisory, a financial services firm located in the Textile Centre and incorporated in March 2017, checks by ST showed. Khouadja, too, is a shareholder of the firm.
Safi is also a shareholder of Tamka Holding, a management consultancy firm in Singapore which shares the same address as EA Advisory.
Safi was arrested in Zurich and handed over to US custody. He pleaded not guilty to his charges including money laundering and securities fraud on Feb 27, 2025.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Khouadja, who is on the run. Liu is also listed as a fugitive.
Charges have been filed against Durai, who remains at large. An arrest warrant has been issued by the District Court of Massachusetts.
ST had earlier reported that Ge was arrested in July 2024 in Singapore, where he has been held under the Extradition Act.
In response to ST, Centurion Law director Favian Kang, who represented Ge in 2024, said he stopped acting for Ge some time in 2024.
A Singapore Police Force (SPF) spokesperson said it is unable to comment on Ge’s extradition case as it is still before the courts.
But the spokesperson confirmed there are no other individuals currently being investigated by the authorities in Singapore in relation to the insider trading case at the moment.
SPF is awaiting “more information from the US authorities to assess whether any offences might have been committed under our laws”, said the spokesperson.
“In the spirit of international cooperation, SPF will continue to render necessary assistance to the US authorities, within the ambit of our laws.”
It's only a blunder when one lives under a totalitarian regime with no free press to speak of.
Member of HDB dragon boat team dies after race at Water Sports Centre in Kallang
A member of HDB dragon boat team has died after a race at the Singapore Sports Hub’s Water Sports Centre in Kallang on Sunday (Nov 16) morning.
The 49-year-old was participating in the Singapore Regatta Waterfest as a member of a 30-strong team comprising staff from HDB.
Responding to AsiaOne’s queries, the Housing Board said that it is "deeply saddened" by his death.
He had collapsed while resting after the race, the statement said.
"He was transported to the hospital for medical attention, where he later passed on after unsuccessful resuscitation attempts by the emergency crew," said HDB.
“Our thoughts are with his family, friends and our own colleagues who are grieving this sudden loss. We are in close contact with the family and are providing them our fullest support and assistance during this difficult time."
An eyewitness, who declined to be named, told AsiaOne that he saw the man lying near the railings outside the toilet in the Water Sports Centre at around 10am.
"Another passerby immediately called for the medic’s assistance and we helped to carry him onto the stretcher before he was wheeled away," he said.
Another participant said organisers announced the man’s death at around noon, after which a minute of silence was observed.
Speaking to AsiaOne, the captain of “Team HDB” said the team was "still a bit shaken" by the death of one of its members.
"We have one more race in the afternoon, and we are going to continue to race for him," she said in the morning.
The event continued in the afternoon before it was cancelled due to bad weather.
The police told AsiaOne that they were alerted to a case of unnatural death at Tan Tock Seng Hospital at 12.20pm.
The man, who was admitted to the hospital unconscious, was subsequently pronounced dead.
Based on preliminary investigations, the police do not suspect foul play.
Singapore Regatta Waterfest’s organisers Kallang Alive Sports Management and the Singapore Dragon Boat Association (SDBA) said in a joint statement that the man was given immediate medical assistance and was taken to hospital.
“We are deeply saddened by the incident, and our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time,” they added.
Held from Nov 14 to 16, the annual event saw nearly 4,000 participants in what organisers described as one of the biggest dragon boat races in the country.
Hundreds of competitors, from educational institutions, business organisations and other entities, vied to be the quickest over a 200m distance in the Kallang Basin.
An SDBA official said the HDB staff member who died on Sunday had taken part in a race on Day 2 of the event the day before (Nov 15) “without any issue.”
https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/member-hdb-dragon-boat-team-dies-during-race-water-sports-centre-kallang