On 3 April 2023, Michael Philip Atkins (“Atkins”), a 50-year-old American citizen, was charged in court with one count of knowingly being a party to the carrying on of a business for a fraudulent purpose under Section 340(5) of the Companies Act (Cap 50, Rev Ed 2006).

Atkins was a director and shareholder of Aureus Capital Pte. Ltd. (“ACPL”). Between May 2013 and July 2014, ACPL offered an investment scheme where it would trade in leveraged foreign exchange on behalf of scheme participants. The scheme collected about $18 million from more than a thousand investors.

In the course of Commercial Affairs Department’s (“CAD”) investigations into ACPL in July 2014, Atkins was arrested and released on police bail. Atkins subsequently failed to report to CAD for investigations as required, and a Warrant of Arrest and an INTERPOL Red Notice were issued against him. The whereabouts of Atkins were traced with the assistance of the authorities in the United States of America. Atkins was successfully extradited to Singapore on 18 March 2023.

The charge against Atkins alleges that he was knowingly a party to the carrying on of the business of ACPL, which was for a fraudulent purpose, namely, by purporting to trade in leveraged foreign exchange on behalf of clients, when in fact it did not operate substantive trading activities and had no sustainable means of funding its operations or the promised pay-outs to its investors.

Those convicted for knowingly being a party to the carrying on of a business for a fraudulent purpose under Section 340(5) of the Companies Act (Cap 50, Rev Ed 2006) shall be liable to a fine of up to $15,000, to imprisonment for a term of up to seven years, or both.