Singapore police say AI chip fraud suspects face additional fraud and money laundering charges
SINGAPORE, July 1 (Reuters) - Singapore Police said four people accused in an AI chip fraud case will face extra charges over alleged fraud and money laundering. Four companies will also face charges including fraud by false representation, the police said in a statement on Wednesday.
The charges relate to an investigation of fraud by falsely representing who would be the end-user of servers purchased from Dell, Super Micro Computer and Asus, the police said.
Here are some details:
• Jenny Lim, 51, and Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, were handed additional charges on Wednesday for fraud and money laundering, while Li Ming, 52, was charged with fraud and fraudulent trading, the police said.
• Alan Wei Zhaolun, 50, will face additional charges for fraud and money laundering on July 6, they said.
• Singaporeans Woon and Wei, as well as Chinese national Li, were first charged in February last year with making fraudulent representations to acquire advanced AI chips, while Lim was charged for conspiring with Woon and Wei in April this year.
• The four accused are due to attend a pre-trial conference on Friday, according to court records. They have not yet entered their pleas in the case.
• Police said on Wednesday that Wei, Lim and Woon were key officers of three companies in the Aperia Group, while Li was the controller of another company, Luxuriate Your Life, and the four companies now also face fraud charges.
• The police have seized about S$1 million ($770,000) in funds from bank accounts under investigation and issued an order preventing the transfer or sale of a Singapore property valued at about S$55 million.
• Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said in March last year that authorities ascertained that servers involved in the case may contain Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) chips.
• The United States banned the export of high-end chips from Nvidia to China in 2022 amid concerns that they could be used for military purposes. The United States later approved the sale of Nvidia's second-most powerful H200 chips in January this year, with some conditions.
($1 = S$1.30)
(Reporting by Jun Yuan Yong; Editing by John Mair)