Singapore: 'A heartrending case': 12 years' jail for woman who cheated boss into giving her S$3.7 million (US$2.8M).

Wheekie · 2024-05-03T06:17:46+00:00

This is a recent article from March 2024. The article is fairly long so I will try my best to summarize it.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/heartrending-case-12-years-jail-woman-who-cheated-boss-giving-her-s37-million-4191356

The following is my summary of the article.

Lynne Charlotte James, 47-year-old woman cheated her 69-year-old boss at a real estate firm of S$3.7M (US$2.8M) including his life savings over the course of almost a decade by lying to the victim claiming she had become bankrupt and impersonated government officials to keep up with the lies.

The victim and his wife sold their condominium units and personal possessions to raise funds for the woman and even resorted to borrowing S$1.1M (US$812K) from his niece who then reported the situation to authorities. Now, the couple cannot even afford an apartment and are now staying in a rented home.

James was convicted of five counts of cheating. Seven other similar charges were considered for sentencing. She has not made any restitution to the victim. Her sentence begins on Apr 16 and remains out on bail of S$100K (US$73.9K). She plead guilty midway through her trial which was delayed after she claimed she suffered an asthmatic attack with difficulty breathing.

The District Judge told the court that it was a 'heartrending case'. The stress caused the victim to suffer a stroke and almost divorced his wife. The victim also currently has cancer. His wife's mental health deteriorated and she sought professional help but ceased treatment due to insufficient funds. Their daughter also harmed herself.

The judge noted that James "concocted an elaborate lie" with the hundreds of forged emails cheating the victim 2,253 times over almost a decade. In 2008, she started having financial difficulties and lied to the victim that the Insolvency and Public Trustee's Office (IPTO) had retained funds in her bankruptcy estate and asked the victim to help pay various purported fees to IPTO to release the funds to her. The fictitious emails impersonated various government agencies, including the Ministry of Law, Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) and even the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon all claiming that James has to continue paying fees to IPTO. She told the victim that the funds already sunk in would be confiscated if he stopped paying and even warned the victim not to report the matter claiming that IPTO would confiscate the funds if they found out he was helping her.

The victim believed James and gave funds to her and over time, James demanded more funds claiming that she would return everything once IPTO releases the funds in her bankruptcy estate. The victim was convinced to keep giving funds to James as she mentioned that she could not return the money the victim has already given her if IPTO did not release her funds, and he wanted to recover the large sums.

While James did not have a prior criminal history, she cannot be considered a first-time offender due to her multiple offenses. Exculpatory factors include pleading guilty but only after a few days of trial. She also aborted three plead-guilty hearings. James's lawyer told the court her client was sorry for her actions and she wouldn't downplay what she did. Adding that she is extremely sorry and understands what happened to the victim, however she claims she's deserving of at least some mercy, some leniency.

The Deputy Public Prosecutor asked for 12 years 6 months. Telling the court that the victim had to travel on various days of the trial waiting long hours and not knowing if hearings would proceed due to James's visits to the hospital. "The accused's crimes were extremely heinous and destroyed the lives of the victim and his family members," "Despite the immense harm she caused, she has shown little remorse." the prosecutor added.

For each charge of cheating, James could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.

Edit: spelling

AirSailer · 2024-05-03T15:50:44+00:00

This started when the boss was 59??? Seriously, who the hell would fall for this. I get what she did was terrible, but if the man and his wife wouldn't have been so gullible then they wouldn't be in this situation. It's hard to feel pity for them.

As for the women, throw her ass in prison for fraud.

Title	Singapore: 'A heartrending case': 12 years' jail for woman who cheated boss into giving her S$3.7 million (US$2.8M).
Author	Wheekie
Upvotes	33
Comments	2
Date	May 3, 2024 6:16 AM UTC (2 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1cj1p63/singapore_a_heartrending_case_12_years_jail_for/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/singapore-a-heartrending-case-12-years-jail-for.1517273 https://theredarchive.com/post/1517273

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