Jail for man who forged letter from prominent law firm in a bid to mislead investors
SINGAPORE: Even though it was clear to him that his employer did not carry out genuine investments, a man continued working for the company, even going so far as to forge a letter on his supervisor's instructions.
Hu Qingjun, 42, created a fake letter that looked as if it was issued by prominent law firm Rajah & Tann.
The Singaporean was sentenced to four weeks' jail on Wednesday (Jun 18) after pleading guilty to a forgery charge.
Hu worked for a company known as Titan Technologies between 2023 and March 2024 and he reported to a man known as "Jay".
As far as Hu knew, the company operated a project that used artificial intelligence to carry out foreign-exchange cryptocurrency and commodities trading activities.
Under the project, a company known as "TitanFX" acted as fund manager to secure investors, while another known as "Vlado Brokers" acted as broker for TitanFX.
Vlado Brokers and TitanFX operated in Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
As part of his job, Hu gave virtual and in-person presentations to investors on the use of artificial intelligence in TitanFX.
However, as time went on, he grew suspicious about Titan Technologies' activities. He suspected that the company was not carrying out genuine investments after learning that the chief trader was not handling the trading activities.
In November 2023, Hu learned that investors were not receiving investment returns.
At the same time, it became clear to him that the company was not carrying out authentic investments. Jay was trying to hide from investors that they would not be receiving the expected investment returns.
However, Hu remained in the company because he still wanted his salary.
Around that same period, on Jay's instructions, Hu informed investors that Vlad Brokers' funds were frozen, TitanFX would be renamed Solid Edge and a new broker would be appointed.
In March last year, Jay told Hu to forge a legal letter under the name of one of the top law firms in Singapore to give the impression that TitanFX had engaged a lawyer to chase Vlado Brokers for money.
Jay said the letter would be used to stall for time with investors who were awaiting their returns.
Hu created the letter on Microsoft Word, purportedly signed off by a partner at Rajah & Tann. He included the logo of the law firm in the header and titled the letter 'Notice of claim for damages, loss of income and all loss resulting from broker closure'. The letter was addressed to 'Vlado Limited'.
The letter claimed that Rajah & Tann was acting for Titan Technologies and was seeking redress for damages and losses arising from Vlado Brokers' closure.
Hu sent the letter to Jay on Mar 25, 2024, who then suggested that Hu print the letter and scan it to make it look more legitimate.
Court documents did not reveal how Hu's offences were discovered, but Deputy Public Prosecutor Lu Huiyi told the court that Hu's acts was discovered when investigators were tracing numbers during a broader investigation.
She called for around six to eight weeks' jail for Hu, stating that there was a need to deter acts of forging legal and professional documents.
"The ultimate objective of the letter was to prop up a serious wrongdoing ... a fraudulent transnational investment scheme," she added.
"The potential harm of the letter is extremely high. First, the false letter was intended to delay investors from demanding the expected returns on their investments. Second, any use of the letter could have caused reputational harm to the law firm ... namely, Rajah & Tann Singapore," Ms Lu said.
Hu, who was not represented by a lawyer, told the court that he was simply following instructions but that he was remorseful for doing so.
He said in mitigation that the letter was not sent out and consequently did not cause harm to public interest. He added that he was a private-hire driver with young children whom he cared for in the day while his wife worked.
District Judge Janet Wang said the foremost issue was whether a jail term was warranted for Hu and she found that it was.
She felt that the offence bore significant ramifications that could have an impact on members of the public and the reputation of Rajah & Tann.
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