Jail for 2 men who provided unlawful money transfer services linked to over $58m

Each man has to spend an additional 15 weeks behind bars if they fail to pay the fine.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Teo told the court that Lee, who is also a Singapore permanent resident, had incorporated a company called Tupt on March 22, 2019.

He was the firm’s sole director, and he operated it with Dat.

The company’s bank accounts later received nearly US$45 million in 58 transactions between July 2020 and April 2022.

As part of their operation, Dat would source for Vietnamese clients who needed to remit money to recipients in other countries.

These were typically for the purchase of vessels in Singapore.

The clients would then sign a contract with Tupt, agreeing that they would transfer money to the firm.

Tupt would then transfer the funds to the intended recipients.

DPP Teo said: “Dat admitted that it was his idea to run (the business in such a way) after hearing from a Vietnamese businessman that payments from Vietnam to Singapore were often delayed and this caused businesses to incur extra costs, such as penalties for late payment or port charges for vessels docked in Singapore.

“These delays could be averted or mitigated if the Vietnamese clients used a Singaporean payment intermediary like Tupt.”

Besides sourcing for clients, Dat was the point of contact liaising between Lee and Tupt’s Vietnamese clients.

Dat would also check the legitimacy of the transactions by looking up the business profiles of the intended recipients.

Court documents did not disclose how the offences came to light, but Lee and Dat were arrested in June 2025.