S'porean in US insider trading probe bought $150k watch while allegedly working with criminal group

Singaporean Dev Ananth Durai has been linked by the authorities in the United States to a number of insider trades made between 2018 and 2020, in an ongoing insider trading probe.

- Andrew Wong Correspondent

Prosecutors said the 39-year-old, who is accused of moving funds for an international criminal network, had also allegedly told an unnamed person that he made US$250,000 (S$327,000) in one trade.

That person, identified in court documents as CC12, was one of 12 suspects in the probe who were not named but were identified as having lived in Singapore.

The Sunday Times has separately confirmed that Dev is the son of Mr T.T. Durai, a former CEO of the National Kidney Foundation.

Dev is a wanted man in the US after an arrest warrant was issued by the District Court of Massachusetts in connection with the insider trading probe.

The US authorities also found that while he was allegedly in the thick of illegal trading action, he filed and won a lawsuit in 2019 in Nevada over a Richard Mille watch that he had paid US$115,000 for but never received.

He was eventually awarded full damages.

In Singapore, Dev dabbled in a number of businesses, including one that was registered to his parents.

He is still listed as a director of two firms in Singapore - a software development firm incorporated in November 2013, and a management consultancy outfit registered in August 2023.

Charges were filed on Nov 1 in Boston against eight suspects in the criminal network, including Dev, and fellow Singaporean Ge Zhi.

The group included French national Samy Khouadja, who is said to be the ringleader, and German national Emma Safi, who coowned a restaurant in Paris with Khouadja.

The restaurant was allegedly used to receive laundered funds.

The authorities also linked 12 individuals, who were identified as CC1 to CC12, and eight others, who were not identified, to the probe.

Key members of the group including Ge, Khouadja and Safi held meetings in locations from Vienna, the Czech Republic and Paris, to Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, and used burner phones and code words to conceal their activities.