SINGAPORE: A woman who cheated her employer into giving her S$3.7 million (RM12.9 million) has been sentenced to 12 years’ jail on Wednesday (March 13).
According to Channel News Asia, the woman, Lynne Charlotte James had lied to her employer, informing him that she had become bankrupt.
She lied to the employer that the Insolvency and Public Trustee’s Office (IPTO) had retained funds in her bankruptcy estate and requested him to various purported fees to IPTO so that IPTO would release the funds to her.
As time passed, James demanded more money from him, informing him that she would return his money once IPTO released the funds in her bankruptcy estate.
James also created fictitious emails from government agencies such as IPTO and the Ministry of Law to corroborate her lies.
She told her employer that if he stopped paying the money, the funds he already sunked in would be confiscated and he would not be able to get his money back.
The 69-year-old employer not only depleted his savings but his wife and him even sold two of their condominium units as well as their personal possessions to raise funds for James.
The man even resorted to borrowing S$1.1 million (RM3.88 million) from his niece who reported about the case to the authorities.
The couple currently reside in a rented home as they are unable to afford a two-room Housing Board flat. Due to the stress of the case, he suffered a stroke and almost divorced his wife. He currently has cancer.
The case also took a toll on the wife’s mental health who resorted to psychiatric help but had to stop treatment because they could not afford the medical bills. Their daughter also harmed herself.
It was a “heartrending case”, District Judge Shawn Ho was quoted as saying.
Between May 2008 and Oct 2017, the victim transferred S$3,677,537.03 (RM12.9 million) to James over 2,253 transactions.
She had used the victim’s money to repay her loans and to settle her personal expenses.
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