Man jailed after trying to blackmail friend's boss with sex videos
He tried blackmailing friend's boss with sex films involving the boss with another man
A man who secretly installed a camera in his boss’ home to film the latter’s private activities managed to record the married businessman having sex with another man.
The employee told two of his friends about his discovery, and they decided to use the videos to extort $60,000 from the 53-year old businessman.
The employee’s name cannot be revealed to protect the victim’s identity.
One of the employee’s friends, Tan Yong Jian, now 24, was yesterday sentenced to three years and 10 months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal intimidation by anonymous communication. The Singaporean also admitted to two drug-related charges.
The employee and another friend, Daryn Ho Yong Jian, are both 23. Their cases are pending.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yang said that in late 2019, the employee installed a closed-circuit television camera on top of a bookshelf in a room at his boss’ home.
He set up the device so that it would alert him on his mobile phone when someone was in the room. He was thus able to view goings-on and make recordings.
He left the camera in the businessman’s home for about three weeks. During that time, he managed to record his boss having sex with another man on at least five occasions.
WELL-TO-DO
The court heard that on March 9 last year, the employee met Tan and Ho and showed them the videos.
The DPP said they were aware the victim was a person of means and decided to use the videos to extort money. They agreed that the employee would get 50 per cent of it while the other two would each get 25 per cent.
The employee sent his two friends the videos and gave them the businessman’s contact number.
The DPP said the employee and Ho later deleted the videos from their mobile phones to avoid detection, leaving only Tan in possession of them.
Later that day, Tan inserted an unregistered SIM card into his mobile phone and sent the businessman three videos, with a message: “I have some videos and pictures at my disposal that I think will be of interest to you.”
When the victim did not reply, he sent another message and said he would share the clips. The businessman lodged a police report on March 10 last year.
The offenders waited for a reply but did not receive any. DPP Zhou said: “They decided that they should proceed with their extortion attempt and... demand $60,000.”
At 7.14pm on March 12 last year, Tan sent the victim a message stating: “60k for these videos and pictures to be deleted and not leaked. Let me know your decision.”
The businessman replied later that evening, saying he might need time and could possibly “squeeze out” $50,000. The trio decided to accept the offer.
The DPP said the businessman suspected that one of his personal assistants who had access to his home could have recorded the videos.
The trio were arrested on March 13 last year after investigations.
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