3 men, aged 40-51, charged with fraud in S'pore, cases allegedly linked to supplying chips to another country

Nine people were arrested following a joint enforcement operation conducted by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Customs on Feb. 26, 2025.

Two men, aged 40 and 48, were charged on Feb. 27 for criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on a supplier of servers by fraudulently making false representations.

A third man, aged 51, was charged on the same day with committing fraud on a supplier of servers by fraudulently making false representations.

The men's arrests were revealed by SPF and Singapore Customs in a joint news release on Feb. 27.

22 individuals & companies under investigation

According to the authorities, during the joint enforcement operation, the police raided 22 locations and seized documentary, as well as electronic records.

In total, the police are investigating 22 individuals and companies for their suspected involvement in fraud by false representation.

Concurrently, the Singapore Customs are also investigating whether offences under the Customs Act 1960 and the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act 1995 have been committed.

"The police and customs take a serious view of the offences and will not hesitate to act against businesses and individuals who engage in dishonest and criminal practices," read the news release.

3 men charged: 2 S'poreans & 1 Chinese national

According to The Straits Times, the two men who were charged with criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on a supplier of servers are Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49.

The man charged with committing fraud on a supplier of servers is Chinese national Li Ming, 51.

Although ST and CNA reported that the trio's cases are allegedly linked to chipmaker Nvidia, the supplier of servers was not named in court documents and was instead referred to as "the items".

According to charge sheets seen by CNA, Woon and Wei were accused of making false representations in 2024 that "the items" would not be transferred to a person other than the authorised recipient.

Li was accused of falsely claiming in 2023 that the end user of "the items" would be a company named "Luxuriate Your Life".

The three men's cases will be heard in court again on Mar. 7.

DeepSeek got hold of export-controlled Nvidia chips via S'pore?

Singapore and Nvidia jointly made headlines after Bloomberg reported that the United States government is investigating whether Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek used intermediaries in Singapore to get hold of export-controlled Nvidia chips.

Singapore was singled out because it represented 22 per cent of Nvidia's revenue in its latest quarterly statement, even though the company revealed that most of the shipments ultimately went to users outside of Singapore.

In response, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said that it expected U.S. companies, like Nvidia, to comply with U.S. export controls and Singapore legislation.

"Our customs and law enforcement agencies will continue to work closely with their U.S. counterparts," added MTI.

Meanwhile, Nvidia stated that the revenue associated with Singapore "does not indicate diversion to China", adding that it insists that its partners "comply with all applicable laws".

According to Reuters, DeepSeek had previously said that it used Nvidia's H800 chips, which the company could purchase legally in 2023, when DeepSeek was founded.

Top image via Canva