American Man Michael Philip Atkins Sentenced to Prison for S$18M Fraudulent Forex Trading Scheme

51-year-old American man Michael Philip Atkins extradited to Singapore last year was sentenced on 25 April 2024 to three years and three months in jail for operating a fraudulent multi-million dollar forex investment scheme.

Michael Philip Atkins was convicted of one count of fraudulent trading after he defrauded more than 1,000 investors out of about S$18 million (US$13.2 million), according to the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

Atkins is a director and shareholder of Aureus Capital, which launched an investment program between April 2013 and July 2014 to conduct leveraged forex trades on behalf of its clients.

Participants were deceived into believing that their funds had been invested and that the trades Aureus Capital conducted for them were profitable. However, only a small portion of their funds were used for trading and the company's trading activities actually resulted in losses.

The SPF said last year that Aureus Capital did not carry out substantial trading activities and did not have a sustainable source of funding to operate the scheme and fulfill its promise to pay investors. 

Atkins was first arrested and released on bail in July 2014, with his passport seized. However, he subsequently failed to report to the police as required.

According to U.S. court documents, Atkins absconded from Singapore to Jakarta in August 2014, where he applied for a new passport from the U.S. Embassy, falsely claiming he had lost his previous passport. He then returned to the United States with his new passport.

Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest and a red notice. A red notice is a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a person – pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. With the assistance of U.S. authorities, Atkins was eventually tracked down and extradited in March 2023 to Singapore. He was indicted the following month.

"The Singapore authorities will not hesitate to pursue and bring to justice those who commit crimes in Singapore, regardless of nationality and where they flee to," the SPF said on Thursday.

(Source: CNA)