Man gets jail for offences including cheating, molestation
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Chong Wee Yew, 56, was sentenced to seven years and seven months' jail yesterday. He had cheated and misappropriated monies from 77 victims and molested one of them twice at Marina Bay Sands. His offences involved more than $1 million in total.
A man who cheated and misappropriated monies from 77 victims and molested one of them twice at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) was sentenced to seven years and seven months' jail.
Chong Wee Yew's offences involved more than $1 million in total. The 56-year-old Singaporean was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to two molestation charges and four counts of criminal breach of trust involving more than $500,000.
He also admitted to 11 counts of cheating linked to more than $200,000. Another 103 charges involving the remaining amount were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Chong has made no restitution to his victims. He committed all of his offences in 2016 and 2017.
Deputy public prosecutors Samyata Ravindran and Rashvinpal Kaur Dhaliwal said Chong was a member of the MBS casino. He received free hotel stays that he later sold off for cash.
He then decided to expand his "business" by buying such stays from other members and selling them. He would tell the buyers to hand him cash or deposit monies into his bank accounts. He misappropriated the monies soon after. The court heard that some rooms were utilised while others were not booked.
Separately, Chong also pitched several investment and business schemes to some of his victims who had bought hotel stays from him.
The prosecutors said: "However, the accused's representations were false, because there were no such investment schemes and he would not be generating the returns, monthly dividends or fixed profits as represented."
He duped five victims into parting with over $200,000 this way between December 2016 and September 2017.
One victim was a 29-year-old woman whom Chong cheated of cash totalling over $75,000. She cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity. Chong also misappropriated $6,500 from her and molested her on two occasions in late 2017.
On Sept 27 that year, he invited her to MBS as she had asked him to return her money. The pair were in a room there to discuss the matter when he molested her. She left the room soon after.
The woman, who was "desperate" to get back her money, agreed to meet Chong in an MBS hotel room the following month. He molested her again and she lodged a police report in January 2018.
