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 ( SMCI ) 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 ( NVDA ) chips.
* The United States banned the export of high-end chips from
Nvidia ( NVDA ) to China in 2022 amid concerns that they could be used
for military purposes. The United States later approved the sale
of Nvidia's ( NVDA ) second-most powerful H200 chips in January this
year, with some conditions.
($1 = S$1.30)