Two investors in Ng Yu Zhi’s Ponzi scheme ‘died because of pressure from case’: Priva

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#1
An interesting case study where very rich people pays for the tuition. Granted, our professional fund manager Shim looks to be closely related to the mastermind Ng and she obviously has been coached by her lawyer to deflect all blame.

In investing, signaling is a very strong effect. More often than not, you make money because Mr Market is more right than wrong. But sometimes you can lose too, like the victims in this nickel trading scam.

On average, these rich people are more clever, have more resources and work much harder too. But on average, they wouldn't be less susceptible to cognitive issues like envy/greed/halo effects etc..

Two investors in Ng Yu Zhi’s Ponzi scheme ‘died because of pressure from case’: Private banker

The first prosecution witness to take the stand, Shim, the former chief executive of fund manager Envysion Wealth Management (EWM), and her company are named as victims in two cheating charges against Ng, the alleged mastermind of the scam.

The other alleged victims included Temasek International general counsel Pek Siok Lan, former Law Society president Thio Shen Yi and Vickers Venture Partners founder Finian Tan, known for spotting the potential in search giant Baidu back in 2000, when it was just a small Chinese start-up. Pek was allegedly cheated of S$5.5 million, Thio of more than S$500,000, and Tan of US$19.2 million.

“We have done whatever we could as professional fund managers,” she said. “Everyone out there, please be reminded it can happen to any one of you, whether or not you are a professional. There were experts in commodities and financial industries, and we were fooled because we believed in a Singaporean who was well educated, brought up in Singapore, and was licensed by MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore).

EWN was manager of the Envysion Global Investments VCC, which established the Envysion Commodity Strategy Fund. The fund was invested in Ng’s company EGT.

The charges are for failing to put in place an appropriate risk management framework for the management of funds and failing to mitigate conflicts of interest related to loans and referral fees received by the company and its CEO through the fund. Shim is also accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act by forwarding e-mail correspondence between MAS and EWN to Ng.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/singapo...ate-banker
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#2
Dr Tan's testimony (a victim who turned prosecution witness) is a fascinating read. There is a Chinese saying that goes 放长线 钓大鱼 (loosely translated as "release a long bait to catch a big fish").

What is the best way to get someone to invest in you? You invert by first investing in them. This scammer Ng has learnt well from Charlie Munger and then from Robert Cialdini on the powers of persuasion.

Venture capitalist Finian Tan sought to invest in alleged scammer Ng Yu Zhi’s nickel business

After agreeing to commit a US$5 million investment to one of Dr Tan’s funds shortly after that meeting, Ng went on to invest with six others a total of US$24 million, including US$13 million from him, for a 6 per cent stake in one of the companies in the Vickers group.

Dr Tan subsequently became an adviser to Envysion Wealth Management – one of the conditions from Ng when the latter made the US$24 million investment. The venture capitalist was happy to advise young companies in this field.

The venture capitalist also checked on the nickel market. “Everything sort of checked out – the narrative, and how he could consistently make such good returns... Check was done by myself. I didn’t want to check in front of him, like I don’t trust him. Everything he said about how he did his business, everything made sense.”

The investment opportunity got Dr Tan “excited”, and he asked Ng “can I invest in your nickel (business)” in a WhatsApp message sent in the wee hours in September 2020. To this request, Ng responded with a message: “We stopped taking direct clients this year but for you no problem.”

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/compani...l-business
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