29-06-2025
Singapore court lets Netflix star David Yong travel to Malaysia, South Korea in July as bail hits S$1.5m
SINGAPORE, June 29 — David Yong, the Singaporean entrepreneur who gained fame on Netflix's Super Rich in South Korea, has been granted court approval to travel to Malaysia and South Korea for urgent business matters despite facing five criminal charges in Singapore.
According to The Straits Times, a district court on Friday approved his application to travel to Seoul from July 4 to 11, and Kuala Lumpur from July 14 to 21.
As part of the conditions, Yong must submit his full travel itinerary to the investigating officer before departure and surrender his passport within 24 hours of his return.
Yong, 38, is the chief executive of Evergreen Group Holdings.
He is currently out on bail after being charged with multiple offences involving falsification of accounts and breaching securities laws.
His bail amount was raised by S$500,000 (RM1.65 million) to a total of S$1.5 million.
His legal team from Dentons Rodyk & Davidson said in court that Yong needed to attend to 'urgent matters' abroad, including securing new office premises.
Lawyer Navin Naidu told the court the issue surrounding a Cambodian passport in Yong's possession — issued under the name 'Duong Dara' — had been 'conclusively resolved'. Yong had previously claimed to have surrendered the document to Cambodian authorities.
This was Yong's fourth attempt to seek permission to travel. A previous application in March was rejected after the court found the status of his Cambodian passport unclear.
Yong was arrested on August 1, 2024, just months after appearing in the Netflix reality series. He was charged two days later with abetting Jolene Low Mong Han to falsify a tax invoice related to Evergreen Assets Management, a company under his group.
Three further charges involving tax invoices and promissory notes followed in August last year. The latest, filed on June 3, accuses Yong of consenting to the offering of more than 1,000 promissory notes between July 2023 and July 2024 without meeting the disclosure requirements under Singapore's Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
According to police, over S$61 million was raised through the notes, which promised a 10 per cent annual return.
'Under the SFA, any offer of securities must be made in or accompanied by a prospectus... unless an exemption applies,' police said in a June 3 statement. 'Members of the public are advised to exercise caution when dealing with such offers without a prospectus.'
Yong's pre-trial conference is scheduled for July 18.
