A jail term of up to 15 years doesn't sound anything like hitting the jackpot, but that could be the fate of Chew Siew Lang, a former accounting manager at luxury Swiss brand Chopard.
The 53-year-old misappropriated a total of $11.2 million of the company's money over six-and-a-half years, spending about $2.1 million on 4D bets. It's not clear if she actually won anything.
Chew's elaborate, Frank Abagnale-esque operations started in 2007 with her enchasing pre-signed cheques. Once she became an authorised signatory, she started using a pen with erasable ink to replace the names of the payees with her own.
What did she do with the money? Channel NewsAsia reports that "between February 2009 and August 2012, Chew issued cash cheques totalling about S$2.1 million from her personal account to Kris Store, an authorised retailer for the Singapore Pools, to pay for her 4D bets. This sum came, in part, from the money she had pocketed in Chopard."
At the court hearing yesterday, her lawyer claimed that Chew had been diagnosed with impulse control disorder that manifested in pathological gambling."Chew faced a total of 243 charges, with the prosecution proceeding on 56 charges," added the report. "She was convicted of falsification of accounts, using the benefits of criminal conduct and criminal breach of trust."
But really, if you think $11.2 million is a huge amount, wait till you hear this: It's actually less than 6 per cent of Chopard's yearly revenue in Singapore, according to the report.
Photo: Gimellproject.com
A jail term of up to 15 years doesn't sound anything like hitting the jackpot, but that could be the fate of Chew Siew Lang, a former accounting manager at luxury Swiss brand Chopard.
The 53-year-old misappropriated a total of $11.2 million of the company's money over six-and-a-half years, spending about $2.1 million on 4D bets. It's not clear if she actually won anything.
Chew's elaborate, Frank Abagnale-esque operations started in 2007 with her enchasing pre-signed cheques. Once she became an authorised signatory, she started using a pen with erasable ink to replace the names of the payees with her own.
What did she do with the money? Channel NewsAsia reports that "between February 2009 and August 2012, Chew issued cash cheques totalling about S$2.1 million from her personal account to Kris Store, an authorised retailer for the Singapore Pools, to pay for her 4D bets. This sum came, in part, from the money she had pocketed in Chopard."
At the court hearing yesterday, her lawyer claimed that Chew had been diagnosed with impulse control disorder that manifested in pathological gambling."Chew faced a total of 243 charges, with the prosecution proceeding on 56 charges," added the report. "She was convicted of falsification of accounts, using the benefits of criminal conduct and criminal breach of trust."
But really, if you think $11.2 million is a huge amount, wait till you hear this: It's actually less than 6 per cent of Chopard's yearly revenue in Singapore, according to the report.
Photo: Gimellproject.com