A DWF Labs partner has been accused of drugging a job applicant and attempting to coerce her into his hotel suite after promising her a role in a crypto project.

The alleged incident took place on October 24 at a bar in Hong Kong when alleged victim ‘Hana’ met one of the Singapore-based Web3 investor’s partners for a job-related meeting.

While Hana was in the bar’s bathroom, the partner — alleged by X (formerly Twitter) user AB Kuai Dong to be Euguen Ng, one of DWF Labs’ founders — was reportedly spotted by staff putting something into her drink. She subsequently tried to swap her drink but claimed he prevented her from doing so. She then reported leaving the bar and starting to feel dizzy. 

At this point, the partner allegedly tried to coerce Hana into his accommodation, telling her, “I’ll take you to get a taxi. I have a suite in Murrary. If you treat me well, I can give you more inside information.”

Read more: Crypto casino 1xBet accused of rigging matches, streaming children’s games

He reportedly added, “In fact, you don’t need to work in the cryptocurrency project. I just need to make money for you with Alpha.” 

Hana claims she was able to report the man to the police station and provide ‘irrefutable’ surveillance footage of him spiking her. She posted to X (formerly Twitter), “I could see from his confident behavior that this wasn’t his first attempt, it was a well-executed setup — there must have been other victims.” 

Indeed, another X user called ‘Iris’ claims, “I know who that person is, he’s really really aggressive and used the same tactics on me.”

DWF Labs has since dismissed Eugene Ng from managerial and operational roles and launched an investigation. It said, “DWF Labs is aware of the recent and deeply concerning allegations involving one of our partners, who has been accused of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour.”

Protos has reached out to DWF Labs and Iris for comment.

Update October 29, 17:54 UTC: DWF Labs has dismissed Eugene Ng from company roles and launched an investigation. It said, “DWF Labs is aware of the recent and deeply concerning allegations involving one of our partners, who has been accused of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour.”

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The winner of the Best Content Creator award at a crypto event in Singapore has deleted his X (formerly Twitter) account after being accused of using bots to manipulate his social metrics.

Professor Crypto collected his Key Opinion Leader (KOL) award yesterday evening at one of Token2049’s side events, DeGen Summit. He then shared this success on X.

However, his now-deleted celebratory post prompted crypto sleuth ZachXBT to point out that Professor Crypto seemingly utilizes thousands of bots. 

“It might be a good idea to lay off the thousands of bots you use on all social media platforms to deceive people into thinking you have an influence,” said ZachXBT. 

He also linked to a Federal Trade Commission law that “prohibits anyone from selling or buying fake indicators of social media influence, such as followers or views generated by a bot or hijacked account.”

Read more: No, a crypto CEO wasn’t arrested for smuggling 20,000 condoms

Professor Crypto deleted his X account shortly after wiping a number of posts related to his KOL win. He also hid dozens of posts from users claiming that they don’t follow anyone who is following Professor Crypto or even know who he is. 

Indeed, functi0nZer0 said, “I have been here longer than the stars have burned, and I have precisely *one* mutual with this account (someone I added within the last week).” 

Another user, NewsyJohnson, also noted they have zero mutuals with Professor Crypto despite following over 1,100 accounts and having almost 20,000 followers. 

NewsyJohnson claimed Professor Crypto has bots following, liking, and commenting on his content. They said, “I don’t think he has any human following.”

Professor Crypto on THAT crypto plane

Professor Crypto was also onboard the Qatar Airways flight to Singapore that looked more like a party than any networking event.

During the flight seatbelt safety signs were ignored as passengers danced in the aisles while Redacted co-founder Shan Kumar implied that the crew may not have expected the mid air antics. 

He said, “You know what, the Qatar Airways staff are like this is the last time we’re ever gonna host a Web3 plane and to be honest, that was the goal.” This particular video has since been deleted from X. 

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The team behind a crypto-based mobile game has faked a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article that claimed the project’s founder was arrested attempting to smuggle 20,000 condoms into Singapore.  

“Robin Hood game-based meme coin” DoginHood shared a screenshot of the supposed article to its X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday. The ‘story’ reported that the project’s CEO had been arrested by Singaporean customs officers at 4pm SGT and was “now in custody.”

It went on to claim that, “Authorities believe the condoms were for a crypto conference in the city-state this week.”

DoginHood said, “We already reached out to our legal team and our contacts in Singapore trying to solve the situation.” 

The image shared on X features a blurred-out WSJ logo and similar formatting to the renowned publication. However, the outlet hasn’t published anything on any crypto founder smuggling condoms, and the fake headline isn’t capitalized in the standard WSJ style.

Read more: The Flappy Bird revival is hiding crypto plans

Some X users attempted to back up the fake story with one citing Singaporean law on condom imports. 

DoginHood is another clicker game on the Telegram messaging app that offers little gameplay beyond mashing the screen to earn in-game currency. The fake story appears to be piggybacking on the upcoming Singapore crypto conference.  

Another crypto project, NEAR protocol, opted for a ‘fake news as PR’ strategy when it claimed it had been hacked earlier this month. However, it turned out that claims of a cyberattack story were just to hype its upcoming Hackathon event. It didn’t go down well with everybody.

“Pretending that your socials have been hacked in order do a 4chan/Max Headroom style gimmick doesn’t make you marketing savvy, it makes you dumb as fuck for normalizing breaches,” one X user wrote.

Another said, “We wish you were actually hacked so we wouldn’t have had to read this.”

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A 19-year-old Singaporean crypto trader was forced to abandon an in-person attempt to convert S$32,000 ($24,000) into tether (USDT) when he was ambushed by two men who punched him in the face and chased him through a nearby mall.

Mothership reports that the teenager, known only as ‘ZK,’ was attacked by the men after meeting the crypto seller in a car park on August 29. 

As the deal was going down, ZK claimed that the men, looking like “regular pedestrians,” passed by before one of them punched him across his left cheek. 

Afraid that the men were trying to steal his cash, ZK says he bolted to the nearest mall and shouted for help. They allegedly chased after him, but ZK says he managed to outrun them and report the incident to police.

Read more: Hong Kong police say alleged scammers swapped 11K fake notes for USDT

The deal had been arranged via Telegram with ZK explaining that, though he had never dealt with the seller before, he decided to go ahead because he needed tether, and the seller was the only one who reached out to him.

He also said he wanted to buy the USDT in person as it saved him trading fees. “It’s not reasonable to lose out on the fees and everything with my trading frequency,” he explained.

The pair originally agreed to meet in a public mall where ZK would hand over the cash in exchange for the seller sending the USDT straight to his wallet. However, the dealer changed the location to a nearby car park at the last minute.  

The Singapore Police Force reportedly arrested two men, aged 20 and 21, on suspicion of attempted robbery.

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Banks in Singapore are closing accounts, demanding more verification, and increasing the amount of time it takes to become a customer as they tighten regulations in the wake of the apparent HK$2 billion ($255 million) JPEX crypto exchange fraud.

According to sources cited by Reuters, banks, including Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd (OCBC), Citigroup, and the United Overseas Bank (UOB), responded to the scandal by increasing client due diligence checks and stretching the time it takes to open an account to more than three months. 

Only “high-quality clients with good profiles and substantial assets under management” can reportedly open a private bank account within the traditional one to three-month timeframe, a Singaporean bank wealth manager said speaking to Reuters. 

Read more: Troubled crypto exchange JPEX says it could relaunch as DAO after probe

The Monetary Authority of Singapore claimed that these measures are nothing new and said, “Given the attributes and size of their transactions, high-net-worth individuals are often subjected to more stringent checks by financial institutions.”

The OCBC said the bank is devoting “significant” resources in its effort to prevent illicit transactions, Citigroup claims it’s “committed to the fight against money laundering,” and the UOB said it was ensuring robust checks in its due diligence.

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The luxury Singapore bungalow once owned by Su Zhu, the co-founder of collapsed Three Arrows Capital (3AC), and his wife, Dr. Evelyn Tao, is now the site of an urban farm that hosts guided tours, composting sessions, corporate getaways, and fine dining. 

According to The Business Times, the Yarwood Avenue property has been operating as an urban farm since early 2023. It’s now run by agriculture initiative, the Habitat Collective, and Abundant Cities, at which Tao is the chief science officer and co-founder.

It claims to “practice soil-based farming, design and build food gardens, and promote sustainable living through education, events and workshops.”

The bungalow’s swimming pool has been converted into a natural pond, a fruit forest has been planted alongside the property perimeter, and its lawn has been replaced with 26 various garden beds, to name just a few of the alterations to the property.

Classed as a good class bungalow (GCB), the spacious house comes with ownership of the land it sits on.  

The pair bought the property for S$48.8 million ($35 million) in December 2021. It was then reported in June 2022 that the couple intended to sell the house by December that same year. CoinDesk noted that a slowing market for detached homes may have influenced Su Zhu’s decision to sell the property.   

Read more: Your guide to the Sam Bankman-Fried trial — starting today

The Business Times approached liquidators for 3AC about the property, but they refused to comment.

Zhu was arrested at Singapore Airport last week while attempting to flee the country. Liquidators have previously attempted to track down both Zhu and Kyle Davies to recover any assets that are owned by the firm, or purchased with 3AC funds.

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A Binance account belonging to a key suspect in a S$2.4 billion ($1.7 billion) anti-money laundering operation in Singapore was reportedly drained of millions of dollars while the man was in police custody, according to court records.

The records show that a “person of interest” withdrew S$3.8 million ($2.8 million) from the account of Turkish national Vang Shuiming two days after he was arrested. Vang was detained in August following a series of raids that seized over S$2.4 billion in assets.

Roughly S$200 million ($146 million) worth of assets linked to Vang, including cash, property, and vehicles, have been confiscated and over S$52 million ($38 million) worth of crypto has been seized from suspects in total. 

The Singapore Police Force’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) reportedly wasn’t aware of the Binance withdrawal until “foreign authorities” tipped it off. 

CAD also said, “Information gathered suggests that the movement of assets was by a person of interest after the accused had been arrested.” Police are also currently searching for Vang’s fugitive brother and two others in connection to the scheme. 

Forty-two-year-old Vang was denied bail after arguing that his immobile parents required his help. The judge disagreed, noting that his parents traveled by private jet last March. 

The court also noted Vang’s ownership of S$49 million ($35.5 million) in overseas assets that would allow him to easily flee the country. It also voiced concerns that he could receive help from three of the fugitive suspects. 

He faces four charges of possession of criminal proceeds obtained from money laundering and one charge of document forgery.

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The co-founder of collapsed Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Su Zhu, has been arrested at the airport in Singapore today after he flouted a court order against him and attempted to flee the country on an airplane, according to a statement made by 3AC’s liquidator.

Teneo, the firm tasked with liquidating 3AC, announced the arrest this afternoon. According to the statement, Zhu was apprehended at Changi Airport under powers granted through a committal order. 

The committal order, requested by Teneo and granted by the courts on Sept 25, signaled to the police that both 3AC co-founders, Zhu and Kyle Davies, are to be arrested on sight and imprisoned for four months. It was granted after Zhu decided to not follow a previous court order that demanded he cooperate with liquidators.

“Mr Zhu will be held in prison to serve his sentence of 4 months under the committal order,” Teneo said. During this time of imprisonment, the 3AC liquidator says it will begin to engage with Zhu in an effort to recover any assets owned by the firm, or any that have been purchased with 3AC funds. 

Read more: Singapore hands 3AC’s Zhu and Davies 9-year markets ban

“The liquidators will pursue all opportunities to ensure Mr Zhu complies in full with the court order made against him for provision of information and documents relating to 3AC and its former investment manager during the course of his imprisonment,” the Teneo statement reads.

Zhu and Davies were also handed a nine-year market ban this month by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Davies, on the other hand, has evaded Singapore authorities and remains missing. He has previously been active on X (formally Twitter) while refusing to respond to a court subpoena.

His X bio claims, “This account is managed by Kyle Davies team, he does not read social media.”

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Tether’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to defend his company against accusations that it has recently cut off Singapore from redemptions. He highlighted the fact that the firm’s terms of service point out that it cut off redemptions in the country in May 2020.

Julian Hosp, the current CEO of Cake DeFi, the founder of the failed ICO TenX, and a former participant in the alleged Ponzi scheme Lyoness, has taken to X to express his displeasure that his company is unable to use Tether because it was ultimately under the control of a Singaporean entity. 

Ardoino also claimed that those who rushed to cover the years-old changes were ‘spreading FUD.’ 

However, records reviewed by Protos related to the issuance and redemption of USDT show that the company continued to interact with Singaporean entities after May 2020.

UQPAY, a Singapore-based payment processor, appears to have been able to issue USDT on May 14 and May 18, 2020. More interestingly, at least one of these issuances appeared to be to an address that was also used by Renrenbit, another Singapore-based entity connected to financial criminal, Bitfinex shareholder, and Tether partner Zhao Dong.

Read more: Tether executives have brushed shoulders with crime since its inception

This demonstrates that Tether was willing to continue interacting with entities in Singapore, even after it changed its terms of service.

Recently, a more-than-$1 billion money laundering ring that used USDT to hide illegal gambling proceeds was busted in Singapore.

Protos has reached out to Tether to determine at what point it truly cut off clients from Singapore and will update if we hear back.

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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has said it has banned the founders of collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, from market activity in the country for nine years.

Effective immediately, both founders will be barred from director positions or becoming substantial shareholders of capital markets companies in the city.

“MAS takes a serious view of Mr. Zhu’s and Mr. Davies’ flagrant disregard of MAS’ regulatory requirements,” Loo Siew Yee, assistant managing director for policy, payments and financial crime at the central bank said in a statement. “MAS will take action to weed out senior managers who commit such misconduct.”

3AC went bankrupt in June last year, when it was decimated by the dramatic collapse of the Terra/Luna ecosystem and subsequent market crash. According to MAS, the crypto hedge fund “provided false information” by going over the limit of S$250 million ($184 million) that a registered fund management firm is allowed to oversee.

Read more: 3AC Ventures: Like 3AC but without the leverage

Zhu and Davies have been accused by the regulator of failing to comply with requirements to monitor and address risks associated with the crypto assets under its control.

Since 3AC’s collapse, the duo have launched controversial crypto exchange OPNX in the Seychelles, which was fined $2.7 million by Dubai’s crypto regulator last month. Zhu and Davies, along with co-founders Mark Lamb and Leslie Lamb were also fined.

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