Former lawyer Jeffrey Ong jailed 19 years for cheating, criminal breach of trust in S$76m case

SINGAPORE: A former managing partner of a law firm, Jeffrey Ong Su Aun, was sentenced to 19 years' jail on Monday (Jul 17) for cheating and misappropriating millions of dollars that he had access to as an attorney, using his clients' money as his own and committing forgery to cover up the crimes.

This is the longest jail term ever meted out to a lawyer in Singapore.

The 46-year-old man's offences involve almost S$76 million (US$57.4 million) in misappropriated or cheated funds, with victims suffering monetary losses of about S$64 million and Ong benefiting about S$7.2 million.

The former managing partner of JLC Advisors LLP pleaded guilty to 10 charges including cheating and dishonestly inducing a sum of S$6 million to be disbursed, criminal breach of trust as an attorney involving about S$33 million, and conspiring to commit criminal breach of trust involving about S$14 million.

Another 66 charges were considered in sentencing.

In sentencing, Senior District Judge Bala Reddy said this case reveals "a reprehensible instance of misconduct perpetrated by a lawyer, whose actions have not only betrayed the fundamental principles of the profession but have also eroded society's trust in legal practitioners".

"Formerly a member of a respected vocation, the accused now faces charges encompassing criminal misappropriation, breach of trust, forgery, and cheating, which strike at the very heart of ethical conduct," said the judge. 

"This lamentable situation not only tarnishes the individual lawyer's reputation but also casts a sombre shadow over the collective integrity of the entire legal community."

WHAT HAPPENED

JLC was incorporated in June 2008. The firm focused on corporate financing and transactions and advised clients on matters like mergers and acquisitions and share placements.

The company would open and maintain escrow accounts to safekeep proceeds of transactions on behalf of clients. 

Ong became a partner of the firm in 2011, taking over the role of managing partner in August 2018.

However, Ong was "actively engaged in criminal activities", the judge said.

Over about a week in May 2019, multiple police reports were filed with the Commercial Affairs Department that Ong had misappropriated millions of dollars from client escrow accounts and committed forgery.

CAD's investigation uncovered "extensive misappropriation of clients' funds" by Ong, over a period of at least three years from 2017, with five victims involved.

By early April 2019, Ong knew that his crimes would soon be discovered, because he had issued a forged cheque for S$33 million on Apr 15, 2019. 

He cleared his home of any spare cash and fled to Malaysia via a private-hire car on the night of May 13, 2019 and travelled to Kuala Lumpur.

In KL, he stayed in a friend's office before moving to a hotel. He threw away his mobile phone and used another one with a China-registered SIM card.

Ong then stayed in Malaysia under a false identity, the court heard. However, he was apprehended by the Royal Malaysian Police - with over S$15,000 on him in different currencies and a stolen passport - and escorted back to Singapore.

The total monetary loss caused by the accused's offences amounted to about S$64 million, with Ong personally benefiting from about S$7.2 million, said the judge.

The sum of S$7.2 million includes money Ong pocketed, sums he used to repay his personal loans, and amounts he used to make "goodwill payments" to his clients or associates, to compensate them for failed investments that he had suggested.

He has made no restitution.

SENTENCING ARGUMENTS

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo asked for 19 years' jail for Ong, saying this was an egregious case of criminal breach of trust by a lawyer.

"From 2017 to 2019, in his role as the managing partner of law firm JLC Advisers LLP, the accused dishonestly and flagrantly misappropriated tens of millions of dollars belonging to JLC's clients," said Mr Khoo. 

"Unbeknownst to these clients, he treated their monies as his own. The accused freely disbursed these monies as he deemed fit to benefit himself, his friends, and his business associates."

Ong was struck off the rolls in September 2022.

Defence lawyers Kate Loo and Ms Jerelyn Tay from Ling Law Corporation, the latest of several sets of lawyers Ong hired, agreed that the sentence as proposed by the prosecution was reasonable.

The lawyers said Ong was called to the Singapore bar in 2003. They presented an extract from a testimonial from another lawyer with 24 years' experience, who had worked with Ong.

This lawyer described Ong as a lawyer with commitment and dedication to client interests and client service standards, with an innate ability to understand clients and with a "self-sacrificial attitude" to serve clients.

"Jeffrey is deeply remorseful for his actions," said the lawyers from Ling Law.

"He regrets what he had done and the losses caused as a result of his reckless actions. Because of what he had done, his young son has been deprived of his father and will have to do without him for many years," they said.

They pointed to indications of Ong's remorse in how he had taken an early plea of guilt, consenting to being disbarred and apologising for wasting the court's time, and cooperated fully with authorities.

The defence lawyers said the bulk of the money in the offences went to "the benefit of other parties, and not to Jeffrey". 

The case is also different from that of Ewe Pang Kooi, who frittered away the money he took by gambling, the defence said.

The lawyers said Ong was not a gambler and was "not materialistic", and he did not "take the monies and run off" to live a good life on his own.

"It was Jeffrey's blind and misplaced loyalties to others that led him to commit the offences that he did, to their benefit," said the defence.

In sentencing, the judge said Ong's actions had flagrantly violated the fundamental duties of honesty he owed to his clients, demonstrating "a complete disregard for the essential values of integrity and trustworthiness that form the bedrock of the legal profession".