Mastermind of online vice ring who profited by more than S$1m convicted
SINGAPORE — The mastermind of an online vice ring who made over S$1 million in profits in his five years of illicit business was convicted yesterday of living off immoral earnings and having commercial sex with minors, among other charges.
Chew Tiong Wei, 38, faced 102 charges but the prosecution proceeded with 28 of the counts. Another 73 offences will be taken into consideration during sentencing on Jan 13, while he was given a discharge amounting to an acquittal for one charge.
Chew started his vice business in 2007 by publishing advertisements in newspapers to recruit female social escorts. After meeting applicants, he would persuade them to be prostitutes and proceed to arrange a semi-nude or nude photo shoot and post their details on an online forum. Between 2007 and 2008, he earned about S$20,000 to S$30,000 from these prostitutes.
In 2010, Chew decided to register Prestige Talents Management — a sham social escort business — as a sole proprietorship with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and launched a website for his business. Administrative staff were recruited to procure prostitutes for him.
Chew admitted that he engaged in commercial sex with interested applicants under 18 years old with their consent. He said this was partly due to temptation, and partly so he could test their “skills”. Chew would inform the girls that he needed to “try” them out before employing them, which would also allow them to get used to the “whole feel” of handling customers.
The youngest prostitute he recruited was 15 years old. The prices for sexual services provided by the girls — including locals — ranged from S$200 to S$1,000. Between 2010 and 2014, Chew made a profit of over S$1 million.
He was nabbed on Dec 4 last year after police acted on a tip-off. At least five obscene films of Chew engaging in sex with his prostitutes were seized — some were recorded on the sly.
In total, the revenue from his vice business was around S$2.6 million.
Chew also faced eight tax-related charges. In 2012, he stated in his income tax return that he made S$40,166 from his sham social escort business. In reality, his profit was more than four-fold that (S$175,779).
The following year, he declared that his profits from the business was S$20,345 when he made S$160,417.
In April last year, Chew also made fraudulent claims under the Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme for a S$15,000 computer software. He made Central Provident Fund contributions to his father, mother and wife’s accounts to fake that he had at least three local workers, as required under the scheme.
He cheated S$9,000 in PIC cash payouts and S$15,000 in PIC bonuses this way. VALERIE KOH
