Ng Yu Zhi allegedly splashed over S$100m on supercars, watches, property; faces 6 more charges

BUSINESSMAN Ng Yu Zhi, who is at the centre of an alleged US$1.1 billion nickel trading scam, has been slapped with 6 new charges on Monday, bringing the total number of charges he is facing to 75. He remains on bail.

Ng spent over S$100 million of what investors poured in to his firms - Envy Global Trading and Envy Asset Management - on payments for supercars, jewellery, art and property.

Over S$20 million was spent on 20 luxury cars. Among them was a Pagani Huayra Coupe, for which he paid S$7.1 million as partial payment to Goh Ching Huat. Other cars he bought include a Porsche 911 GT3, Rolls Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini Aventador SV J, and an Aston Martin Rapide.

Ng spent over S$15 million on high-end jewellery and luxury watches. His purchases include a FRED emerald and diamond necklace with 3 oval emeralds weighing 4.43, 4.69, and 14.32 carats, a diamond-encrusted Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch as well as several pieces from Van Cleef and Arpels, Bulgari and Chopard.

He paid over S$20 million for 4 properties at Emerald Hill, Jervois Road, Coldstream Avenue and Bussorah Street, while doling out close to S$5 million on artworks by artists including Chen Wen Hsi, Dali and Fernando Botero.

He was also accused of transferring a total of S$68.8 million to several personal bank accounts he held with UOB, OCBC Bank, DBS Bank, Maybank, HSBC and Standard Chartered between March 2020 and February this year, according to charge sheets seen by The Business Times.

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Ng, 34, the former director of Envy Asset Management and Envy Global Trading, allegedly raised at least S$1 billion from investors for fake deals related to nickel trading in one of Singapore's largest investment fraud schemes. He was arrested in February and first charged with cheating and fraudulent trading in March.

High-profile investors who were among his list of victims include Vickers Venture Partners founder Finian Tan and former Law Society president Thio Shen Yi.

The charges also revealed Ng paid US$11 million for shares in Vickers Financial Group between November and December 2020.

READ MORE: Diamonds, nickel - and S$1.46b of failed promises