Leader behind one of the most 'profitable and elusive' illegal gambling syndicates in Singapore pleads guilty

SINGAPORE: One of the leaders behind a distant gambling syndicate that was described as amongst the "most profitable and elusive" pleaded guilty in court docket on Wednesday (Dec 8).Seet Seo Boon, 57, pleaded guilty to seven costs, together with being a member of an organised crime group, recruiting a member to the group, managing distant gambling, and helping in carrying on a public lottery.According to court docket paperwork, Seet earned no less than S$19,000 per 30 days from the assortment of bets positioned on two distant gambling web sites he began. One of the web sites generated about S$1.1 million in income on common per week, court docket paperwork confirmed, and greater than S$120 million over practically 4 years.The 57-year outdated is the youngest of three brothers who have been listed as leaders of the syndicate.Prosecutors known as him “the leader behind one of the most profitable and elusive illegal remote gambling syndicates which thrived under the cloak of technology for half a decade”. 

ARRESTED AT HOME

Acting on a tip-off, law enforcement officials arrested Seet at his house at The Tropica in Tampines at about 5.10pm on Nov 27, 2016. When he refused to allow them to in, officers compelled their method into the condominium unit and arrested Seet, who was suspected of distant gambling offences. Police officers seized objects from the unit, together with cellphones, laptops, S$191,689 in money and 4 Rolex watches. Hours later, at about 9.50pm, Seet led officers to his workplace alongside North Bridge Road, the place more objects have been seized, together with 4 computer systems, a laptop computer and a CCTV system.Investigations later revealed that Seet had 11 financial institution accounts that he used for financial transactions related to illegal distant gambling actions.Funds in eight of these accounts have been “directly and fully traceable to the proceeds of crime”, court docket paperwork said. Police arrested Seet and the different syndicate members after a "prolonged period of intensified probes", mentioned court docket paperwork. A complete of 49 individuals, together with Seet, have been arrested. Besides the syndicate leaders, a chief runner, three administrative workers members and two IT technicians have been additionally arrested. Four individuals who acquired a minimize of the earnings gained or paid for losses have been arrested, along with runners and brokers.

THE SYNDICATE 

Prior to 2011, 4 Seet brothers had been amassing illegal 4D bets on behalf of others.In 2011, they determined to arrange their very own distant gambling web site to facilitate the assortment of illegal 4D bets from brokers and punters.They channelled "all the bets into the website to earn more profit", court docket paperwork confirmed. Seet employed a Malaysian man to assist create an internet betting platform hosted on the web site, which was launched in mid-2011. He paid the man S$1,000 on each draw date – there are three attracts every week – to keep up the web site. When the web site was first created, Seet and his brothers shared the winnings and losses on 4D bets collected by them. They then expanded their operations by recruiting others to gather illegal 4D bets from punters on their behalf."They also promoted several agents to shareholders, to motivate the shareholders to recruit more agents who could collect more bets. These agents, who were directly managed by the shareholders, were also known as master agents," mentioned court docket paperwork.They additionally inspired those that joined them to recruit more individuals to “increase the revenue of the (syndicate), and to cushion the losses by spreading the losses amongst the members”, court docket paperwork state. Seet and his brothers prevented being caught by the authorities by personally interviewing every potential member of the syndicate and accepted solely "appropriate members who agreed to their phrases”, the court docket heard. Three months after the web site was created, one of the brothers withdrew from the syndicate. The three different brothers carried on with out him. From 2011 till his arrest in November 2016, Seet earned no less than S$14,000 per 30 days from bets positioned by this primary web site. In 2013, Seet realized a few “better” and “more efficient” online betting system in Hong Kong, the court docket heard. The Seet brothers determined to arrange a second web site utilizing this technique.Seet employed an IT technician to get the second web site up and working. Seet paid about S$180,000 for the web site’s three servers, and additionally paid the technician about S$2,000 per 30 days to keep up the website. From 2013 till his arrest in November 2016, Seet earned no less than S$5,000 per 30 days from bets collected by this second web site.According to court docket paperwork, Seet earned a 15 per cent fee from the whole worth of bets positioned by each betting web sites. He additionally earned an extra 5 per cent to 10 per cent from the whole winnings arising from his brokers and punters' bets.The syndicate had "numerous sub-groups and clusters", with one cluster comprising no less than 89 brokers, of whom solely seven have been arrested.In whole, the syndicate generated about S$1.11 million in income on common per week from three 4D attracts, court docket paperwork confirmed. From Jan 1, 2013, to Nov 27, 2016, the syndicate acquired a complete income of greater than S$127.6 million.Seet additionally pleaded guilty to utilizing illegal proceeds from his syndicate to make mortgage repayments on a three-room unit alongside River Valley Close.Prosecutors sought a sentence of no less than 10 years and six months' jail and a positive of S$720,000 for Seet. "This case presents a rare opportunity for the court to mete out a strongly deterrent sentence to the leader behind one of the most profitable and elusive illegal remote gambling syndicates which thrived under the cloak of technology for half a decade," the prosecution mentioned. "It is only right and just that the accused, having evaded the law for years and derived a sizeable amount of profits from his covert illegal operations, now faces the full force of the law."Defence legal professionals Josephus Tan and Cory Wong of Invictus Law sought a sentence of between seven-and-a-half to eight years’ jail and a positive of S$235,000.  They mentioned Seet was the first of the three leaders to plead guilty, and that he didn't have "any relevant and recent antecedents".He is about to be sentenced in January subsequent yr.