SINGAPORE — A debt collection business founder has been sentenced to 81 months in prison after misappropriating more than S$1.25 million in separate cases involving company funds and high-value currency notes.
Farm Boon Tet, 37, was sentenced on Oct. 2 after pleading guilty to four counts of criminal breach of trust and admitting to an unrelated charge of performing a rash act. Seven additional charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Court proceedings heard that Farm was involved in three debt collection companies — Empire Debt Collection, Empire DC Holdings and Empire SG Debt Recovery — incorporated between 2020 and 2022.
Because he could not obtain the required licence to operate debt collection services, Farm brought in friends as shareholders and directors before becoming an employee who effectively ran the companies’ day-to-day operations, including handling money.
Between April 2023 and April 2025, Farm conspired with employee Chua Yi An to misappropriate nearly S$976,000 from two of the companies on more than 90 occasions. Prosecutors said Farm shared the proceeds with Chua and used his portion for personal expenses.
A separate case involved S$280,000 worth of currency notes belonging to a woman who operated a business selling undisclosed “rare items” with her husband.
Farm had told the woman that a businessman from China wanted to purchase a large quantity of high-denomination notes and suggested that she could make a profit from the transaction.
After receiving the remaining S$280,000 worth of notes, Farm did not complete the supposed sale. Instead, according to the prosecution, he took the notes to Resorts World Sentosa, converted them into casino chips and lost the money through gambling.
Farm has since returned S$4,000 to the woman, with no further restitution reported at the time of sentencing.
He also admitted to a separate rash-act offence involving a water bottle that he threw at a car in April 2024, causing a dent.
His lawyers said he had been experiencing serious financial difficulties, had personal debts and had become involved in gambling. They also said he accepted responsibility for his offences.
Farm was granted S$20,000 bail and is expected to begin serving his sentence on Nov. 13.
The case comes as Singapore continues to regulate debt collection businesses under the Debt Collection Act 2022, which provides for licensing and regulatory requirements for debt collection businesses and individual debt collectors.
