Two Currency Traders Jailed in Singapore for Cheating Deutsche Bank and HSBC

Two former currency traders from Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC Holdings have been sentenced to 15 weeks 8 weeks in jail on charges of dishonest conduct through using their banks’ accounts to get preferential rates in 2009. The two were convicted last month in unrelated cases before Singapore High Court Justice See Kee Oon.

The traders transacted around $1.1 billion in false trades in 2009, using the names of family members to set up trading accounts, which were then used to cheat their respective banks. The aim was to artificially increase their currency trades, earning extra cash at the expense of the banks in whose money they dealt.

Former HSBC senior dealer Ivan Chng was charged in 2015 with 149 counts of facilitating about $800 million in transactions in his wife’s accounts. He allegedly made roughly $230,000 in unlawful gains off the back of $870 million in trades. His lawyer complained that his sacking was unfair, and he had to work as a driver in Uber as he was suspended and later fired after the scandal broke.

In the case of Toh Khuan, former Deutsche Bank spot trader, he stood accused of netting around $140,000 through 39 counts of false trades totalling almost $300 million.