Singapore Charges Fifth Person in AI Server Fraud Case; Shi Bingzhe Faces 41 Counts Over 917 Servers

Singapore on Friday (November 13) charged a fifth person in its AI server fraud case: 34-year-old Singaporean businessman Shi Bingzhe, who faces 41 offences, including benefiting from criminal conduct, each carrying up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to S$500,000, or both. Prosecutors allege that two companies linked to Shi acquired 917 servers across 41 transactions from Aperia International. The charge sheets are dated November 10. (Photo: a data centre server room, file photo.)

False claims about end users; servers may have held Nvidia chips

The case involves Aperia International allegedly making false representations about the end users when purchasing the servers, which were bought from Dell, Super Micro Computer and Asustek Computer. Singapore's home affairs minister has said the servers may have contained AI chips from US firm Nvidia. Shi is a director of Superphi and chief operating officer of NJ Global Financial; its parent, Aperia Group, is also under investigation.

Five people and six companies now before the courts; probe widening

Besides Shi, those charged include Jenny Lim, Alan Wei Zhaolun, Aaron Woon Guo Jie and Chinese national Li Ming, on charges ranging from fraud and money laundering to fraudulent trading. In July, officers of Aperia Group and of another company, Luxuriate Your Life, were charged. With Shi's Superphi and NJ Global Financial, the companies before the courts now number six, including Aperia International, A-Speed Infotech, Aperia Cloud Services (II) and Luxuriate Your Life. Malaysia is separately investigating SpeedMatrix over alleged AI chip re-exports, as the region's crackdown on AI chip diversion widens. (Source: Reuters.)