Singapore police have arrested a former captain of a superyacht owned by Chen Zhi, the mastermind behind one of Asia’s largest scam syndicates.
Nigel Tang Wan Bao Nabil was detained on Dec. 11 after returning to Singapore, police said in a Thursday statement responding to Bloomberg.
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Nigel Tang Wan Bao Nabil. Photo courtesy of Sail-World |
Tang was arrested for “suspected involvement in money laundering offences,” in connection with Chen and companies linked to him.
He has since been released on bail, according to people familiar with the matter.
U.S. authorities have indicted Chen, a China-born Cambodian citizen, accusing him of heading a transnational criminal organisation that ran scam compounds staffed by enslaved workers.
Prosecutors alleged that Chen and his Prince Holding Group defrauded victims through online “pig butchering” scams in the U.S. and elsewhere, laundering billions of dollars in illegal proceeds. Chen is currently at large.
Tang, 32, is one of three Singaporeans sanctioned by the U.S. in October over their links to Chen.
Tang served as captain of Chen’s 53-metre superyacht, NONNI II, and is a director and operations head at Warpcapital Yacht Management, a Singapore-registered firm. Chen and his associates frequently hosted parties on the yacht.
Tang is also operations head at Capital Zone Warehousing, a Singapore company controlled by Chen that ran a tax-exempt warehouse for imported alcohol and tobacco.
In late October, Singapore police said they had seized or restricted the sale of more than US$150 million in assets linked to Chen and his associates, including properties, bank accounts, vehicles, liquor and a yacht.
Police said at the time that Chen and his known associates were not in Singapore.
