Singapore man jailed for cheating wife's lover in fake condo investment scheme
According to The Straits Times, Eric Ong Chee Wei, 50, was also ordered to pay S$210,000 in compensation to the victim, David Tan, after having made an initial restitution of S$10,000.
Should Ong fail to pay the full amount, he will have to serve an additional 105 days in prison.
Ong's wife and accomplice, Felicia Tay Bee Ling, 49, who had carried out the scheme on his instructions, was sentenced to two years and one month in jail. Both were offered bail of S$40,000 and are expected to begin serving their sentences on August 18.
The daily reported that Ong was unaware at the time that his wife was having an affair with Tan, although Tan knew Tay was married.
The case unfolded in court with both Ong and Tay pleading guilty to a charge of cheating in June.
Defence lawyer Nevinjit Singh told The Straits Times the couple remain married.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kiera Yu said Tay, a housewife, began an affair with Tan in 2014 after meeting him in 2010.
Around September 2015, Ong, who had worked as a property agent until 2006, came up with a plan to trick Tan into paying 'security deposits' for purported condominium purchases, according to the report.
Tay told Tan there were discounted investment opportunities involving seven units at Residences @ Emerald Hill, claiming the units could later be sold at a profit due to the 'poor property market'.
However, six of the units did not exist and the seventh was not available for sale. Tay even provided handwritten records and screenshots of option-to-purchase (OTP) forms but no official documents were ever issued.
The OTP forms were misused without the knowledge of a real salesperson from OrangeTee, a legitimate property agency.
Between September and November 2015, Tan handed over S$220,000 across seven occasions, believing the transactions were genuine and that he would receive over S$1.7 million in profits, the daily reported.
By early 2016, Tan became suspicious after receiving no returns. The relationship between Tan and Tay ended in March 2017.
He eventually contacted OrangeTee in December 2019 and was informed that the transactions were fake. A police report was lodged the next day, and Ong and Tay were arrested in June 2022.
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