Debt collection firm founder who pocketed cash, currency notes worth over $1m gets 81 months’ jail

Farm Boon Tet pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal breach of trust.

ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Published Oct 02, 2026, 02:35 PM

Updated Oct 02, 2026, 02:35 PM

Founder of three debt collection firms Farm Boon Tet pocketed nearly $976,000 from two of the companies on more than 90 occasions.

He also misappropriated currency notes worth $280,000 from a woman.

He was sentenced to six years and nine months’ jail after pleading guilty to four counts of criminal breach of trust, and one count of performing a rash act.

SINGAPORE – The founder of three debt collection companies ended up pocketing nearly $976,000 in total from two of the firms on more than 90 occasions.

Separately, Farm Boon Tet, 37, also misappropriated currency notes amounting to another $280,000 which belonged to a woman who ran a business selling undisclosed “rare items” with her husband.

Farm, who is a Malaysian and a Singapore permanent resident, was sentenced to six years and nine months’ jail on Oct 2 after he pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal breach of trust.

He also admitted to an unrelated charge of performing a rash act.

Seven other charges were considered during his sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordy Kay said that the three debt collection companies – Empire Debt Collection, Empire DC Holdings and Empire SG Debt Recovery – were incorporated between 2020 and 2022.

Farm then roped in his friends to be shareholders and directors in the companies, as he could not obtain the necessary licence to operate debt collection services.

After that, he became an employee of the companies, running their daily business operations, including hiring new staff and handling money.

Another man, identified as Chua Yi An, 31, who had known Farm since 2013, worked for the three companies.

Chua was tasked with bringing in clients and managing them He was also entrusted with money that the clients had paid.

The funds were meant to be used for the debt collection services, the court heard.

The DPP said that between April 2023 and April 2025, Farm engaged in a conspiracy with Chua to misappropriate nearly $976,000 from Empire Debt Collection and Empire SG Debt Recovery.

Without revealing details, the prosecutor added that Farm shared the ill-gotten gains with Chua.

Farm then used his share on his personal expenses.

In an unrelated case, the court heard that Farm was a long-time customer of a married couple who ran a business selling “rare items”.

On Oct 8, 2024, he told the 40-year-old woman that he knew a businessman from China who wanted to buy 300 pieces of $1,000 currency notes and four pieces of $10,000 currency notes.

Details about these notes, which were worth $340,000, were not disclosed in court documents.

Farm also told her that she could “make some profit” as the businessman would be paying a slightly higher amount for the notes.

The woman agreed to sell the notes to the businessman. A week later, she took them to a Sentosa hotel and handed them to Farm.

He then told her that he would take the notes to the businessman as he did not want him to know that he was “only a middleman”.

Farm returned shortly after and said that the businessman did not like some of the notes as their serial numbers had “inauspicious numbers”. As a result, the businessman bought only some of the currency notes for $62,870.

Farm then handed the woman the remaining notes worth $280,000 and left the hotel with her.

But the next day, he contacted her again and said that the businessman was ready to buy the remaining notes for $294,610.

The woman handed the notes to Farm, who did not meet the businessman to complete the transaction.

Instead, he went to the Resorts World Sentosa casino and exchanged the notes for casino chips. He then used the chips to gamble and lost all of his ill-gotten gains.

Farm has since returned $4,000 to the woman and has made no further restitution.

Separately, he had flung a water bottle at a car in April 2024 and caused a dent after claiming that the driver had flashed him a lewd hand gesture.

Court documents did not disclose how Farm’s offences came to light, but he was charged in court in 2025.

Defence lawyers Amarick Gill and S. Ramanujen had pleaded for their client to be given six years’ jail.

The lawyers from Amarick Gill law firm stated in court documents: “(Farm) was in financial dire straits and resorted to committing the offences to pay off his personal debts and dabbled in gambling.

“He accepts full responsibility for his actions and vows never to reoffend.”

Farm’s bail was set at $20,000 on Oct 2, and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Nov 13.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.

Criminal breach of trust

Farm Boon Tet承认犯有四项刑事失信罪。

《海峡时报》摄影：KELVIN CHNG

发布于 2026 年 10 月 2 日下午 2:35

更新于2026年10月2日下午2:35

三家债务催收公司的创始人 Farm Boon Tet 在 90 多次事件中从其中两家公司骗取了近 976,000 美元。

他还从一名妇女那里盗取了价值 28 万美元的现金。

他承认犯有四项刑事失信罪和一项鲁莽行为罪，被判处六年零九个月监禁。

新加坡——三家债务催收公司的创始人最终从其中两家公司骗取了总计近97.6万美元，涉及金额超过90次。

此外，37 岁的 Farm Boon Tet 还挪用了另外 28 万美元的现金，这些现金属于一名与丈夫一起经营出售未公开“稀有物品”生意的女子。

法姆是马来西亚公民，也是新加坡永久居民。10 月 2 日，他承认犯有四项刑事失信罪，被判处六年零九个月监禁。

他还承认了另一项与此无关的鲁莽行为指控。

量刑时还考虑了其​​他七项指控。

副检察官乔迪·凯表示，这三家债务催收公司——帝国债务催收公司、帝国DC控股公司和帝国SG债务回收公司——均成立于2020年至2022年间。

由于无法获得经营债务催收服务所需的许可证，Farm 便拉拢他的朋友们成为公司的股东和董事。

之后，他成为这些公司的员工，负责公司的日常业务运营，包括招聘新员工和处理资金。

另一名男子，名叫蔡义安（Chua Yi An），31岁，自2013年起就认识Farm，曾为这三家公司工作。

蔡先生的任务是招揽客户并管理客户，他还负责保管客户支付的款项。

法庭获悉，这些资金原本是用于债务催收服务的。

检方表示，2023 年 4 月至 2025 年 4 月期间，Farm 与 Chua 合谋，从 Empire Debt Collection 和 Empire SG Debt Recovery 挪用了近 976,000 美元。

检察官没有透露细节，但补充说，Farm 与 Chua 分享了非法所得。

农场主随后将他分得的那份钱用于了个人开支。

在另一起案件中，法庭获悉，Farm 是一对夫妇的长期客户，这对夫妇经营一家出售“稀有物品”的商店。

2024年10月8日，他告诉这位40岁的女子，他认识一位来自中国的商人，想购买300张1000美元的钞票和4张10000美元的钞票。

法庭文件中并未披露这些价值 34 万美元的票据的详细信息。

Farm 还告诉她，她可以“赚取一些利润”，因为这位商人会为这些票据支付略高的价格。

这名女子同意将钞票卖给那位商人。一周后，她带着钞票来到圣淘沙的一家酒店，交给了法姆。

然后他告诉她，他会把笔记带给那位商人，因为他不想让商人知道他“只是个中间人”。

农场主不久后返回，并表示那位商人不喜欢其中一些钞票，因为它们的序列号“不吉利”。因此，这位商人只购买了其中的一部分，总共花费了62,870美元。

然后，法姆将剩余的28万美元钞票交给了这位女士，并和她一起离开了酒店。

但第二天，他又联系了她，说那位商人准备以 294,610 美元的价格购买剩余的票据。

那名女子将钞票交给了法姆，但法姆并没有与商人见面完成交易。

他没有去赌场，而是去了圣淘沙名胜世界赌场，把钞票换成了筹码。然后他用这些筹码赌博，输光了所有不义之财。

农场已向该女子退还了 4000 美元，但未作进一步赔偿。

另外，他曾在 2024 年 4 月向一辆汽车扔了一个水瓶，造成车身凹陷，原因是他声称司机对他做了猥亵的手势。

法庭文件没有透露 Farm 的罪行是如何被揭露的，但他于 2025 年在法庭上被起诉。

辩护律师阿马里克·吉尔和S·拉马努詹请求判处他们的当事人六年监禁。

Amarick Gill 律师事务所的律师在法庭文件中表示：“（Farm）当时经济拮据，为了偿还个人债务而犯罪，并且沉迷于赌博。

“他愿为自己的行为承担全部责任，并誓言永不再犯。”

10 月 2 日，法姆的保释金被定为 2 万美元，他预计将于 11 月 13 日开始服刑。

沙菲克·阿尔哈提卜是《海峡时报》的法庭记者，主要报道国家法院审理的刑事案件。

刑事背信罪