A former accountant for a fintech firm has been sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison for large-scale financial fraud. Ho Kai Xin, a 32-year-old former payroll accountant who worked for Wechain Fintech Singapore providing payroll for Bybit Fintech, was sentenced to nine years and 11 months in prison. She was convicted of a $5.7 million fraud.
Illegal enrichment and luxury lifestyle
Ho transferred more than $4.2 million into her personal accounts over the course of a year and used the funds to fund a luxury lifestyle, including the purchase of a penthouse and the purchase of expensive clothing and a car. Despite being banned by the court from further spending the ill-gotten money, she continued her actions, which in January added another six weeks to her sentence.
The case came at a time when Bybit was facing a security incident in which roughly $1.5 billion in ETH tokens were stolen . Subsequently, the exchange saw a large increase in requests for withdrawals of funds.
Partial compensation for financial losses
The CEO of Bybit, Ben Zhou, expressed his regret over the fate of his former colleague on the social network X and stressed the need to strengthen control mechanisms. As a result of the incident, the company has introduced regular audits and tightened approval processes to prevent similar situations in the future.
Police seized over $330,000 worth of property, including a luxury vehicle, and Bybit was able to recover more than $1.1 million from the perpetrator’s bank accounts. Despite a request for a lighter sentence due to the custody of two children, the court reaffirmed its uncompromising stance on financial crime in Singapore.
