Three Singapore directors accused of hatching investment scam

Prosecutors on April 22, 2013, accused three directors of Profitable Plots of hatching an investment scam involving a fuel additive, boron, that duped Singapore investors out of more than US$ 8 million.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Luke Tan, at the opening of a 14-day trial on the 22nd, said the Boron CLS Bond scheme was launched to shore up the company’s finances in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, and the resulting losses in its land investment business.
“This is a case about greed and lying,” DPP Tan said. The defendants, “wanted more and more cash for their own failing business, so they devised a complex investment scheme to market to customers. While investors were told that they would be providing financing exclusively for the purchase of a pre-sold high demand lubricant which was based on breakthrough technology, what they got in return was just a series of lies and empty promises.”
The company, which had more than 100 employees in Singapore, ceased operations after it was raided by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in August 2010.
Timothy Nicholas Goldring, John Andrew Nordmann and his wife, Geraldine Anthony Thomas, were each charged last March with 86 criminal counts of conspiracy to cheat investors of US$2.4 million. But the prosecution is only proceeding on 18 of the charges, while the remaining 68 have been temporarily dismissed and will be dealt with separately.
Prosecutors said the defendants marketed the Boron scheme between November 2008 and April 2010 as an investment that was, “virtually risk-free, of short duration and with promised high, fixed returns.”
They said the bulk of the funds, “ended up being used for all manner of unrelated purposes and expenses.”
To make the investments appear legitimate, Profitable Plots also issued several documents including a transfer of title document and an option agreement.
Prosecutors said these documents made reference to a Dubai-registered company called Profitable Group Ltd, a shell company allegedly set up and run by the defendants, to “distance” Profitable Plots from the scheme.
At least 54 prosecution witnesses are expected to take the stand, including auditors, employees, fraud victims and an accounting expert who will testify on how the Boron scheme operated and why it could not honor its obligations when they came due.
(April 23, 2013)