After a $2.4 billion money laundering bust, Singapore now has hundreds of luxury handbags to shift

One of history’s largest ever money laundering busts left officials in Singapore with a multibillion-dollar question: What to do with the cars, properties and thousands of luxury goods seized in the investigation?

Three years after the coordinated raids, which saw over 400 police officers target a criminal network profiting from scams and illicit gambling, the answer is now partly on display deep inside a secretive storage facility near the affluent city-state’s airport.

In a windowless, concrete-walled room, collectors are being invited to browse hundreds of the forfeited items. Cartier rings, Bulgari necklaces and Hermès “Kelly” bracelets are on show alongside rows of handbags and accessories by brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton. It’s a haul so vast that the sales are being spread across 15 auctions, between now and next May, to avoid flooding the market.

“The amount of luxury handbags, the sheer volume of the jewelry here — all of great quality and all from the best jewelry houses — is something we don’t see every day” said Christopher Lanigan-O’Keeffe, co-founder of Hotlotz, the auction house tasked with selling the goods. “You might be lucky to see one or two pieces like this, but all together at once is quite unusual,” he said as he toured CNN around the viewing room in Singapore’s high-security Freeport.

Conducted after two years of investigations, the country-wide police operation involved assets worth more than $3 billion Singaporean dollars ($2.4 billion). As well as cash, cryptocurrency and gold bars, officers seized properties, sports cars, wine, liquor, electronics and even hundreds of Bearbricks, collectible Japanese teddy toys that can sell for six-figure sums.

Ten Chinese nationals (although many held passports issued by other countries including Cambodia and Turkey) were later convicted on charges including money laundering and forgery. The culprits owned businesses and properties in Singapore, where prosecutors said they channeled the proceeds of overseas criminal activities. They were each jailed for between 13 and 17 months, though all have since been released and deported.

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Singapore Police Force

Forfeited luxury items were also linked to 17 suspects who remain on the run overseas, 15 of whom agreed to surrender assets to Singapore in return for having Interpol notices against them withdrawn.

Some objects going up for auction carry evidence of their illicit past. An 18-karat gold ring, for instance, is engraved with the initials “SHJ,” matching those of Su Haijin, one of the convicted men. But most of the objects are in good or pristine condition, indistinguishable from equivalent items on the resale market.

Hotlotz has valued them as such. The auction house’s first two sales, which run online until later this month, are expected to raise up to 3.9 million Singapore dollars ($3.1 million), with proceeds going directly to Singapore’s treasury.

Lanigan-O’Keeffe believes the objects’ origins will have little impact on the final prices. “Each individual collector or buyer will have their own views on that,” he said. “To some people, maybe (it matters), but to other people, some of these items are hard to come by.”

The sales have been over a year in the making. In July 2025, Singapore appointed Deloitte to liquidate the non-cash assets seized by investigators. The accounting firm then selected four real estate firms — SRI, Knight Frank, Edmund Tie & Company and List International Realty — to auction or sell more than 80 properties. Among them is a four-bedroom penthouse in the Norman Foster-designed South Beach development that is expected to sell for upwards of 25.3 million Singapore dollars ($20 million) later this month.

Hotlotz, meanwhile, was asked to recuperate as much money as possible from the luxury goods. The auction house has spent the last four months authenticating and valuing the haul.

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The items “would not be out of place in any of the top auctions in New York, London, Paris or Hong Kong,” said Lanigan-O’Keeffe, adding: “To be able to offer the caliber of these goods in one series is quite unheard of.”

The highest estimate belongs to a 15-carat yellow diamond ring that Hotlotz predicts will sell for up to 300,000 Singapore dollars ($237,000). Rings by Hermès and British jeweler Graff are also expected to attract six-figure sums. Elsewhere, a pumpkin handbag, from Louis Vuitton’s collaboration with the late Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, has already exceeded auction estimates, with a current top bid of 39,000 Singapore dollars ($31,000) at the time of publication.

Other lots span diamond-studded belts, hair clips and even children’s jewelry — small anklets, rings and bracelets made from solid gold — once owned by suspects in the case. Future sales will feature luxury watches and enough Hermès handbags (around 250, Hotlotz said) for two standalone auctions, the first of which is scheduled for November.

By holding the auctions online, Hotlotz hopes to attract bidders from around the world, not just Singapore. And with estimates starting as low as 120 Singapore dollars ($95), for a Miu Miu ring or a Gucci hair clip, these items aren’t just for the ultra-wealthy.

“The most expensive things aren’t always the most interesting,” Lanigan-O’Keeffe said.

历史上规模最大的洗钱案之一给新加坡官员留下了一个价值数十亿美元的问题：如何处理调查中查获的汽车、房产和数千件奢侈品？

在400多名警察联合开展突袭行动，打击一个靠诈骗和非法赌博牟利的犯罪网络三年后，答案现在部分揭晓，就在这个富裕的城邦机场附近一个秘密的仓库深处。

在一个没有窗户、四面都是水泥墙的房间里，收藏家们受邀前来浏览数百件被没收的物品。卡地亚戒指、宝格丽项链和爱马仕“凯莉”手镯与香奈儿和路易威登等品牌的成排手袋和配饰一同展出。由于数量庞大，为了避免市场供应过剩，拍卖会将从现在到明年五月分15场举行。

“这里奢侈品手袋的数量之多，珠宝的数量之庞大——而且全部都是顶级珠宝品牌，品质卓越——这样的盛况实属罕见。”负责此次拍卖的Hotlotz拍卖行联合创始人克里斯托弗·拉尼根-奥基夫说道。“你或许有幸见到一两件这样的珍品，但像这样一次性全部出现的情况实属罕见。”他一边带领CNN记者参观位于新加坡高度戒备的自由港区的展厅，一边说道。

经过两年的调查，这项覆盖全国的警方行动涉及价值超过30亿新加坡元（约合24亿美元）的资产。除了现金、加密货币和金条外，警方还查获了房产、跑车、葡萄酒、烈酒、电子产品，甚至还有数百个Bearbrick——这种日本收藏级泰迪熊玩具售价可达六位数。

十名中国公民（其中许多人持有柬埔寨、土耳其等其他国家签发的护照）后来因洗钱和伪造罪名被定罪。这些罪犯在新加坡拥有企业和房产，检方称他们将海外犯罪所得转移到新加坡。他们每人被判处13至17个月的监禁，但目前均已获释并被驱逐出境。

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新加坡警察部队

被没收的奢侈品还与 17 名仍在海外潜逃的嫌疑人有关，其中 15 人同意向新加坡交出资产，以换取撤销国际刑警组织对他们的通缉令。

有些拍卖品带有其非法历史的痕迹。例如，一枚18K金戒指上刻有“SHJ”字样，与其中一名罪犯苏海进的姓名首字母相符。但大多数拍品保存完好，与二手市场上同类物品并无二致。

Hotlotz拍卖行已据此对这些藏品进行了估价。该拍卖行的前两场拍卖会将持续到本月晚些时候，预计将筹集高达390万新加坡元（310万美元）的资金，所得款项将直接上缴新加坡国库。

拉尼根-奥基夫认为，这些物品的来源对最终价格影响不大。“每个收藏家或买家都会有自己的看法，”他说。“对某些人来说，这或许很重要，但对另一些人来说，这些物品非常难得。”

这些出售计划历时一年多才完成。2025年7月，新加坡委托德勤会计师事务所清算调查人员查获的非现金资产。随后，德勤选定了四家房地产公司——SRI、莱坊、Edmund Tie & Company和List International Realty——负责拍卖或出售80多处房产。其中包括位于诺曼·福斯特设计的南滩（South Beach）项目的一套四卧顶层公寓，预计将于本月晚些时候以超过2530万新加坡元（约合2000万美元）的价格售出。

与此同时，霍特洛茨拍卖行的任务是尽可能从这批奢侈品中收回尽可能多的钱。过去四个月，这家拍卖行一直在对这批物品进行鉴定和估价。

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兰尼根-奥基夫表示，这些拍品“即使出现在纽约、伦敦、巴黎或香港的任何顶级拍卖会上也不会显得格格不入”，并补充道：“能够在一个系列中提供如此高品质的拍品，实属罕见。”

估价最高的拍品是一枚15克拉的黄钻戒指，Hotlotz预测其成交价将高达30万新加坡元（约合23.7万美元）。爱马仕和英国珠宝商格拉夫的戒指预计也将拍出六位数的价格。此外，路易威登与已故日本艺术家草间弥生合作推出的一款南瓜手提包，其拍卖成交价已超过预期，截至发稿时，最高出价为3.9万新加坡元（约合3.1万美元）。

其他拍品包括镶钻腰带、发夹，甚至还有儿童首饰——纯金打造的小脚链、戒指和手镯——这些都曾是该案嫌疑人的物品。未来的拍卖会还将包括名表和数量足以举办两场独立拍卖的爱马仕手袋（据霍特洛茨称，约250个），首场拍卖会定于11月举行。

Hotlotz希望通过在线拍卖吸引来自世界各地的竞拍者，而不仅仅是新加坡人。而且，从120新加坡元（约合95美元）起拍的Miu Miu戒指或Gucci发夹，这些物品并非只有超级富豪才能拥有。

“最贵的东西并不总是最有趣的，”兰尼根-奥基夫说。