US insider trading probe: Singapore firm used to launder illegal proceeds

Key members of an insider trading ring linked to transactions that ran into the tens of millions of dollars had moved some of the illegal proceeds through a firm in Singapore, The Straits Times has learnt.

- Andrew Wong Correspondent

The funds were eventually channelled into a bank account linked to a restaurant in Paris.

Charges were filed on Nov 18 against eight suspects in the network, including Singaporeans Ge Zhi and Dev Ananth Durai.

They are accused of trading on privileged information about the finances and merger plans of several publicly traded firms in the US between 2016 and 2024.

The men, who held meetings in locations from Vienna, the Czech Republic and Paris to Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, ran a complex operation that included the use of burner phones and code words.

Prosecutors in Boston said the group had recruited investment bankers and corporate insiders, to tap them for confidential information on publicly traded companies. In exchange, the insiders received a share of the profits.

Members of the group then laundered the funds through cash payments, international financial transactions and shell companies.

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