By Shaffiq Alkhatib for The Straits Times

Copyright tnp

A man who offered a fraudulent artificial intelligence-powered investment scheme was sentenced to seven years and nine months’ jail on Sept 19 after he cheated multiple victims of over $4.6 million in total.

Ong Kai Min, 42, had earlier pleaded guilty to eight counts of cheating involving eight investors – seven people and a company.

The eight charges involved more than $3.39 million, an amount which includes US$537,000 (S$689,000).

Sixteen other charges, including those linked to the remaining amount of money, were considered during Ong’s sentencing.

At the time of the offences, which took place between May 2019 and March 2021, the Singaporean was a director of a private firm called Singapore Index Trading Institute (SITI).

He told investors the company had developed several AI programs that conducted automated trades in financial instruments.

Investors were also told that the AI programs boasted historical returns of a minimum of 3 per cent a month and projected returns of between 2 per cent and 10 per cent a month.

In reality, no trading activities were conducted with the investors’ monies.

In an earlier statement, police said Ong was a director of four firms.

The companies are Siti, Bookhero, OKM Holdings and C7 Traders Vanuatu (C7TVL), the last of which was incorporated in the Pacific island nation.

Siti offered educational courses, where Ong taught participants how to trade in areas such as foreign exchange.

C7TVL operated an online trading platform known as C7 Traders.

Among other things, potential investors were told that trades would be conducted on the investors’ personal trading account on C7 Traders, and that C7TVL was a brokerage independent of SITI.

In August, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordon Li told the court: “None of the above was true. The accused owned both C7TVL and SITI… None of the investors’ funds were ever forwarded to C7TVL to fund investors’ trades.”

Ong later used the investors’ money for other purposes, including operational expenses of both SITI and C7TVL and his own personal expenditures.

Between March 2021 and June 2022, the Commercial Affairs Department received 30 reports alleging fraud by SITI and C7TVL. Ong was charged in court in January 2025.