Singapore Charges Fifth Person in Nvidia Server Fraud Case With 41 Offences

The Straits Times report, as reprinted by The Star, did not list the other 40 charges. It also did not say whether Shi has entered a plea, what his alleged role was or when he is next due in court. Bloomberg said the case concerns the export to Malaysia of servers that might contain Nvidia chips.

The new charges add to a case that has run since early 2025 and is one of the most closely watched tests of how Southeast Asian hubs handle AI hardware subject to US export controls. Singapore cannot enforce those US rules directly, so the alleged conduct is being prosecuted as fraud and money laundering.

Four people were charged before Shi. Three are executives at Aperia Group: former chief executive Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49; head of sales Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41; and chief financial officer Jenny Lim, 51. They face fraud and money laundering charges. The fourth is Chinese national Li Ming, 51, who controls Singapore-based Luxuriate Your Life and faces fraud and fraudulent trading charges.

In July, four companies were also charged with false representation: Aperia International, A-Speed Infotech, Aperia Cloud Services (II) and Luxuriate Your Life.

According to a police statement published on July 1, the Aperia executives falsely told server suppliers between November 2023 and February 2025 that an Aperia Group company would be the end user of the hardware. Bloomberg identified the suppliers as Dell Technologies, Super Micro Computer and Asustek Computer. Prosecutors have not accused Nvidia or the server makers of wrongdoing.

Wei pleaded not guilty in July, and his lawyer called the charges "misconceived". One of the money laundering charges against him concerns a mansion valued at about S$55 million. Prosecutors allege that more than half of the money used to buy it came from criminal conduct. Police have barred any sale or transfer of the property and have seized about S$1 million from bank accounts linked to the investigation.

The case grew out of a US investigation into whether Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek had obtained restricted Nvidia chips through third parties in countries including Singapore. If convicted, the defendants could face prison terms, fines or both.