Singapore sentences woman to 12 years’ jail for cheating boss into giving her US$2.78 million

A woman who cheated her boss at a real estate firm into giving her S$3.7 million (US$2.78 million) over almost a decade, including his life savings, was sentenced to 12 years’ jail on Wednesday. Lynne Charlotte James persistently lied to the victim that she had become bankrupt and posed as government officials in emails to back up her lies. After the 69-year-old man depleted his savings, he and his wife sold two of their condominium units as well as their personal possessions to raise funds for James. When the couple ran out of cash, he resorted to borrowing S$1.1 million from his niece, who eventually flagged the case to the authorities. Singapore woman scams people of US$646,000 including lover who cheated parents The couple now cannot even afford to buy a two-room Housing Board flat, and stay in a rented home. James, a 47-year-old Singaporean, was convicted of five counts of cheating last week. Seven other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. She has not made any restitution to the victim. She will begin serving her sentence on April 16 after asking for time to take care of her children and mother, and remains out on bail of S$100,000. She pleaded guilty midway through her trial, which was delayed after she claimed she was suffering an asthmatic attack and could not breathe. District Judge Shawn Ho told the court on Wednesday that it was a “heart-rending case”. Due to the stress of the case, the victim suffered a stroke and almost divorced his wife. He currently has cancer. His wife’s mental health took a downturn, and she sought psychiatric help, but had to stop treatment because they could not afford the medical bills. Their daughter also harmed herself. The judge noted that James sent hundreds of forged emails to the victim and “concocted an elaborate lie”. “You cheated the victim 2,253 times over almost 10 years,” he added. The court previously heard that James began working at the unidentified real estate firm around 2006, reporting to the victim. In 2008, she began having financial difficulties and faced bankruptcy. She devised a plan to cheat the victim, whose name was redacted from court documents. James told the victim that she had become bankrupt and lied to him that the Insolvency and Public Trustee’s Office (IPTO) had retained funds in her bankruptcy estate. Chinese tourist charged with staging own kidnapping in Singapore She asked the victim to help her pay various purported fees to IPTO so that IPTO would release the funds to her. The man believed James and gave her sums of money. As time passed, James demanded more cash from him, telling him that she would return him all the money he had given her once IPTO released the funds in her bankruptcy estate. The victim was convinced that he had to keep transferring money to James, as she said she could not return the money he had already given her if IPTO did not release her funds, and he wanted to recover the substantial sums. James also created fictitious emails from government agencies such as IPTO and the Ministry of Law to corroborate her lies. In the forged emails, the government agencies purportedly demanded various fees payable to IPTO. James also created fake emails from the attorney general’s Chambers and judges such as Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon asking her to continue paying fees to IPTO. She told the victim that if he stopped paying money, the funds he had already sunk in would be confiscated and he would not be able to get his money back. She warned him not to report the matter, saying that IPTO would confiscate her funds if they found out he was helping her and he would not be able to get any money back. For more than nine years between May 2008 and October 2017, the victim transferred S$3,677,537.03 to James over 2,253 transactions. James used the money to repay her loans from moneylenders and to settle her personal expenses. On Wednesday, District Judge Ho said while James did not have a prior criminal history, she could not be considered a first-time offender due to her multiple offences. He added that in terms of mitigating factors, she had saved resources by pleading guilty but this was after a few days of trial. She also aborted three plead-guilty mentions. Will Singapore law to keep serious offenders beyond jail terms infringe on rights? James’ lawyer, Mohamed Baiross from IRB Law, told the court she was sorry for her actions and was not going to downplay what she did. “My client has very little to go on before the court as to how remorseful she feels,” Baiross said, who sought nine years’ jail for his client. “She is extremely sorry and understands what happened to the victim, yet she’s before the court to say she’s deserving of at least some mercy, some leniency.” Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Soh asked for 12-and-a-half years’ jail. He told the court that the victim had to travel to court on various days of the trial, waiting long hours and not knowing if the hearing would proceed due to James’ visits to the hospital. “The accused’s crimes were extremely heinous and destroyed the lives of the victim and his family members,” the prosecutor added. “Despite the immense harm she caused, she has shown little remorse.” For each charge of cheating, James could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined. This article was first published by Today Online