An international fraud involving around $1.5 million was subsequently funneled into a bank account of Deen's Watches, a company that an 18-year-old teenager had established in January 2022.

On Wednesday, Mar. 13, the court penalized Deen's Watches $50,000 after finding the firm guilty of one count of dealing with the profits of criminal activity. Ali Kuthubudeen, a 20-year-old Singaporean, was the company's only director at the time. His case is still ongoing. He has a pre-trial conference scheduled on Mar. 26. 

Establishment of Deen's Watches

In a report by The Straits Times, Ali informed the police in May 2022 that he had met a friend when they were both Singapore Boys' Home residents. The friend had approached him with an offer to start a watch firm, guaranteeing him a profit of $20,000 to $30,000. Ali had consented and, with the assistance of his friend and someone else named "Gibson," had established Deen's Watches.

According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin, Ali subsequently presented his friend and "Gibson" with documents, including his Singpass credentials and a photocopy of his identification card. The two then used Ali's information to create bank accounts.

The prosecution said that Ali permitted them to access the company accounts using his Singpass. After a few hours, he changed the Singpass password because he was worried they might use it for anything else.

Tung said Ali knew his responsibility as director of Deen's Watches to handle the company's affairs. Nevertheless, according to court records, he did not monitor the company's financial dealings or commercial operations.

Ali allegedly asked the acquaintance for updates on the company's business matters, but he stopped following up when his inquiries went unanswered.

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Suspicious Money Transfers

On April 27, 2022, one of the bank accounts associated with Deen's Watches received about $1.5 million. This sum was part of $4 million that belonged to another firm.

An imposter posing as a representative of Decheng Capital Global Life Sciences Fund had previously submitted a series of bogus instructions requesting the transfer of $4 million from the entity's bank account to another account associated with Binary Luxe.

The $4 million was sent to Binary Luxe's bank account. Later, almost $1.5 million was sent to Deen's Watches' bank account from that amount.

Reportedly, the funds were further diverted to other accounts in China.

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