Insurance agency director pockets more than $40,000 of clients' money
To feed his gambling habit, a director at an insurance agency made off with at least $40,000 of clients' money in June 2022 after being entrusted to deposit the amount into a corporate bank account.
Huang Jieqi, who is also a shareholder of Lele Insurance Agency, later came clean about what he had done when fellow director Lee Choon Ban spotted a shortfall in the account and confronted him.
Between February and May 2023, Huang returned the money and promised not to misappropriate funds again.
But he broke his promise and misappropriated nearly $41,000 over 18 occasions between December 2023 and January 2024.
On Feb 6, the 38-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to 15 months' jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust and an unrelated forgery charge.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Natalie Chu told the court that Huang and Mr Lee established Lele Insurance Agency in March 2022.
She said Huang was authorised to sell policies from companies, including Allianz Insurance Singapore and NTUC Income Insurance.
He would typically direct Lele's clients to transfer their payments for the insurance policies to the agency's corporate bank account.
He would then arrange for payments to be made to the insurance companies.
After misappropriating at least $40,000 of clients' monies over multiple occasions in June 2022, he used Lele Insurance Agency's existing funds from its corporate account to pay the insurance companies.
As a result, the agency suffered a loss relating to the amount.
Huang returned the money after Mr Lee confronted him, but he re-offended soon after, making off with nearly $41,000.
The prosecutor said: "The accused transferred these sums from the (corporate account) to his own personal bank account (or accounts). He attempted to disguise these transactions as clients' payments to the insurance companies by listing names of different persons in the 'remarks' section."
Huang again used existing company funds in the corporate account to pay for the clients' insurance policies, causing Lele Insurance Agency a loss of nearly $41,000.
Huang and his family have since made full restitution for this amount.
Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but Mr Lee lodged a police report on Dec 30, 2023.
Separately, Huang's forgery case involved a company called Savesteel, which had engaged Lele Insurance Agency to buy corporate policies from EQ Insurance.
In April 2024, a Savesteel representative approached Huang to arrange for insurance coverage for five different quantities of ship cargo, namely steel plates.
Huang quoted an insurance premium of nearly $6,000, which was to be transferred to him.
After receiving the payment, he forged five cover notes that purported to provide insurance to Savesteel from EQ Insurance.
But the court heard that he was not authorised to prepare such cover notes on behalf of EQ Insurance.
Court documents stated that Huang forged the cover notes by using an old document that EQ Insurance had issued earlier.
These forged cover notes were then issued to Savesteel on April 27, 2024. The prosecutor said Huang was aware that no valid insurance was provided by EQ Insurance in relation to the steel plates.
On May 3, 2024, the Savesteel representative made inquiries linked to the five cover notes and EQ Insurance discovered that Huang had forged them
He was arrested three days later and has not provided any restitution to Savesteel for the nearly $6,000 loss.