Ex-UBS employee in Hong Kong jailed for 7 years for HK$14.7 million theft, money laundering amid Covid pandemic

Charles Lam is ‘perpetrator and mastermind behind it all’, deputy judge Douglas Yau says

He has been jailed for theft and money laundering, with defence counsel saying he learned ‘a bitter lesson’ and took up a nutrition course during his incarceration

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Hong Kong court jails ex-UBS banker for 7 years over theft, money laundering. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:02pm, 7 Nov 2023Updated: 7:23pm, 7 Nov 2023

A former UBS associate director in Hong Kong has been jailed for seven years for stealing HK$14.7 million (US$1.9 million) and laundering part of the illegal proceeds through the purchase of luxury watches and handbags during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The High Court heard on Tuesday that Charles Lam Chung-yiu, 42, endorsed 46 transactions to either himself or retailers of high-end products between March and October 2020, while supervising a compensation scheme set up to reimburse overcharged clients.

The defendant, with over a decade of experience in banking, also raked in HK$8.7 million by selling some of the timepieces he bought with the illicit gains, according to prosecutors.

Lam was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport on December 3 that year when he was about to escape to London with 100 tags for Rolex watches and documents that allowed his dog to accompany him. He was planning to join his wife in the UK capital.

Further investigations revealed Lam had laundered HK$10.7 million he stole from the Swiss financial institution using two accounts, including one opened specifically for the crime.

Pleading guilty to two counts of theft and two of money laundering, Lam, who used to earn a monthly salary of HK$77,500, attributed his transgression to “job insecurity” during the pandemic in 2020.

The defendant is the crime’s ‘perpetrator and mastermind’, deputy judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong says. Photo: Warton Li

Deputy judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong said the crime was calculated and carefully executed by the accused, who changed his name twice to pretend to be the rightful recipients under the compensation scheme.

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