[SINGAPORE] Well-known venture capitalist Finian Tan was told in August 2020 that someone was keen to invest in his funds. That person turned out to be the alleged nickel trading scammer Ng Yu Zhi, to whom Dr Tan was said to have been cheated into delivering US$19.2 million.
Dr Tan arranged their first meeting on his boat in Sentosa, where Ng – now contesting multiple charges of cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust, money laundering and fraudulent trading in the High Court – came with the then chief executive officer (CEO) of Envysion Wealth Management, Veronica Shim.
Recounting the circumstances behind that meeting, Dr Tan testified as a prosecution witness in Ng’s trial on Thursday (Apr 3) that he had heard Ng was “very, very successful”. That description came from Shim, who had arrived earlier than Ng at the meeting. The fact that Ng wanted to invest in Dr Tan’s funds where investors have millions of dollars means that Ng must be successful, the witness told the court.
The founder and chairman of Vickers Venture Partners was impressed with Ng. “I was so amazed that such a young person could have amassed so much net worth… He is a self-made man apparently, and he was so young… He appeared very knowledgeable and smart… He asked very good questions… so I was impressed,” he testified.
After agreeing to commit a US$5 million investment to one of Dr Tan’s funds shortly after that meeting, Ng went on to invest with six others a total of US$24 million, including US$13 million from him, for a 6 per cent stake in one of the companies in the Vickers group.
“I found him very easy to get along (with), very smart, maybe not the right word. He is not difficult as an investor, I appreciated that,” said Dr Tan, who has a doctorate in engineering from Cambridge University, on what made him accept that investment.
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Dr Tan subsequently became an adviser to Envysion Wealth Management – one of the conditions from Ng when the latter made the US$24 million investment. The venture capitalist was happy to advise young companies in this field.
He came to hear that Envysion’s bread and butter business was invested in Ng’s nickel trading, which had consistently made so much money quarter after quarter. That got Dr Tan intrigued, so he asked Ng, now 37, about it.
Ng claimed he had known a distressed nickel miner in the course of his earlier employment with professional services firm KPMG, and managed to secure nickel cargoes when the metal prices were very low. Subsequently, when demand for nickel surged and prices went sky-high, it was a sellers’ market.
Dr Tan had a similar trading opportunity in the Middle East, where he was making profit “like clockwork” after the price of the commodity he was trading in rocketed. Also, he found Ng’s rate of return of 17 per cent “very realistic”, and it was an “incredible opportunity” for investors.
The venture capitalist also checked on the nickel market. “Everything sort of checked out – the narrative, and how he could consistently make such good returns… Check was done by myself. I didn’t want to check in front of him, like I don’t trust him. Everything he said about how he did his business, everything made sense.”
The investment opportunity got Dr Tan “excited”, and he asked Ng “can I invest in your nickel (business)” in a WhatsApp message sent in the wee hours in September 2020. To this request, Ng responded with a message: “We stopped taking direct clients this year but for you no problem.”
Dr Tan was one of the 947 investors allegedly swindled by the accused of almost S$1.5 billion. Ng faces 108 charges over offences including cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust, money laundering and fraudulent trading. The prosecution is proceeding on 42 of these charges in the trial, which began in November 2024.
Calling Ng the mastermind of the elaborate investment scheme that took place between February 2016 and March 2021, the prosecution has accused Ng of perpetrating the offences through his companies Envy Asset Management and Envy Global Trading when no nickel had ever been bought or sold.
Dr Tan will continue giving evidence on Friday.
