American extradited to Singapore, charged over S$18 million fraud investment scheme

SINGAPORE: A 50-year-old man was extradited from the United States to Singapore and charged on Monday (Apr 3) over an S$18 million (US$13.5 million) fraud investment scheme.

Michael Philip Atkins, a US citizen, was a director and shareholder of Aureus Capital. Between May 2013 and July 2014, the company offered an investment scheme where it would trade in leveraged foreign exchange on behalf of clients.

Aureus Capital purported to offer clients foreign exchange trading services in return for a share of the profits resulting from the trades, according to US court documents.

The scheme collected about S$18 million from more than 1,000 investors, said the Singapore Police Force.

However, the company did not operate substantive trading activities and had no sustainable means of funding its operations or the promised payouts to its investors, said the police. 

In the course of investigations by the police's Commercial Affairs Department into Aureus Capital in July 2014, Atkins was arrested and released on police bail. 

He later failed to report to the police for investigations as required. 

According to US court documents, Atkins absconded from Singapore at some point between Aug 5 and Aug 18, 2014.

He travelled to Jakarta where he applied for a new passport at the US Embassy by falsely claiming that he had lost his previous one, the US court was told. With his new passport, Atkins returned to the US. 

An arrest warrant and an Interpol red notice were issued against him. 

Interpol red notices are issued for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence. It is a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person – pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.

Red notices are published by Interpol at the request of member countries, of which Singapore is one.

A request was made to the US Embassy in Singapore on Jun 8, 2020, for Atkins' extradition. On Feb 11, 2022, Singapore authorities supplemented their request for his extradition, US court documents said.

On Sep 21 last year, the US government opened a court case against Atkins. He was traced and arrested in the US on Sep 27, 2022.

Atkins appeared in court on the same day and was told of the pending charges against him in Singapore and the request for his extradition.

The US court found all requirements for extradition were met and Atkins's objections had "no merit". He was extradited to Singapore on Mar 18.

He was charged on Monday with being a party to the carrying on of a business for a fraudulent purpose.

If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to seven years, fined up to S$15,000, or both.