If you have watched the Netflix series “Super Rich in Korea”, you might be familiar with David Yong.
The 37-year-old Group CEO of Evergreen Group Holdings, whose real name is Yong Khung Lin, is notoriously known as one of Singapore’s top one per cent super-rich, where, like his other castmates, he showcased most of his material possessions in the show.
Apart from owning supercars and a personal private jet, there was even a money counter and boxes of luxury clothing brands for display—basically, the whole gamut.
Along with his “old money/nepo baby” status, Yong is recognised as one of Singapore’s flamboyant media personalities, to the admiration and disdain of Singaporeans and international audiences.
Despite being no stranger to controversy, Yong recently found himself in hot water with the authorities, as he was charged with financial fraud, according to various reports from Singapore news outlets.
Here is a breakdown of how Yong rose to fame and his charges to date.
Introducing the self-proclaimed “multi-hyphenate”
Business and entrepreneurship are not foreign territory for Yong, which is unsurprising, considering he took over the helm of his father, Yong Ing Fatt’s business, Evergreen Group Holdings, a timber trading company turned enterprise.
According to KrAsia, Yong often accompanied his father on business trips and meetings to “observe” and “learn the ropes” of the family enterprise as a teenager.
He eventually joined the business in 2010, spearheading the company’s move to diversify downstream and build financial and investment arms.
Through Evergreen Group Holdings, Yong also entered the music industry, where he made headlines for making his K-pop debut as a 35-year-old CEO. In an interview with The Korea Times, he shared that he became a fan in 2014 and decided to “study the K-pop industry”.
K-pop has been in vogue in Southeast Asia, but most K-pop record labels still do not have the right partners to cooperate with.
They have staged numerous performances in the region, but many of them did not turn out too well, largely because the Korean companies lacked the networks … For them, Evergreen can give a helping hand to target the Southeast Asian market, which brims with potential.
David Yong, Group CEO of Evergreen Group Holdings, then Evergreen Asset Management, in an interview with The Korea Times in 2021
As a singer, Yong signed with South Korean music label Rainbowbridge World (RBW) and released a few singles, where he collaborated with K-pop music acts such as rapper KID MILLI and Mamamoo member Moon Byul, who was also his labelmate.
Upon checking RBW‘s website, it is worth noting that Yong is no longer included in the label’s music artists list.
Beyond showcasing his vocals, Yong also made a S$10.2 million investment in Attrakt, another South Korean music label known to represent Fifty Fifty, last September, and brought auditions for the “future” quintet to Singapore.
Evergreen Group Holdings was also the co-organiser of the inaugural Waterbomb Singapore festival held last weekend, which proceeded and was well-received by the audience despite the sudden news of Yong’s legal troubles.
An interesting but often-forgotten fact about Yong is that he is also a practising lawyer. He previously graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Bristol’s Law School and established his law firm, YSL Legal, in 2020.
Yong shared that his legal background helped him a lot when he first took over the family business, adding that managing a business can be “tricky” without understanding the legalities.
Suspicions before his arrest
This is ironic, considering he is in hot water with the authorities for allegedly falsifying financial accounts and was arrested by the local authorities on August 1, 2024.
However, the authorities and the media had their suspicions of the self-proclaimed multi-hyphenate long before his arrest. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) listed Evergreen GH Pte. Ltd., formerly Evergreen Assets Management, on their Investor Alert List on January 27, 2023.
Evergreen GH is one of the entities under Evergreen Group Holdings.
According to MAS’s website, the Investor Alert List provides a list of organisations that may be or have, based on information available to MAS:
- Wrongly perceived as being licensed or in any other way authorised or regulated by MAS;
- Made an offer of units in a business trust or collective investment scheme which may be or may have been wrongly perceived as being authorised, recognised, or registered by MAS;
- Made an offer of investment which may be or may have been wrongly perceived as being made in or accompanied by a document lodged or registered with MAS.
Singaporean news outlet The Straits Times sat down with Yong for an interview earlier this year. The article published this June highlighted the differing figures that Yong and Evergreen Holdings have made public across varying sources.
Key revelations presented in the article were Yong’s individual net worth, his company’s listing on MAS’s Investor Alert List, the ownership of his house and cars seen in the Netflix reality series, and his “alleged” dual citizenship.
The article stated that in an appearance on the South Korean Reality show Unpredictable Fortunetellers in August 2023, Yong proclaimed that he has investments and assets amounting to around US$90 million. Vulcan Post did not find clips of the episode to verify at the time of reporting.
However, Yong shared with The Straits Times that his individual net worth was about US$10 million. He clarified that the US$90 million refers to the total value of his property investments and not his individual net worth.
When asked about his company’s listing on MAS’s Investors Alert List, he claimed that scammers fraudulently used the company’s name, and he had since made a police report in March last year.
In the article, it was written that the news publisher had seen a report by the official Royal Gazette of Cambodia showing that Yong’s name had been changed to Duong Dara due to his new nationality.
In response, Yong denied it and dismissed the matter as “false news”, adding that he had “no intention of giving up” his Singaporean citizenship.
It is worth noting that Singaporeans are not allowed to hold dual citizenship, as per Singapore’s nationality law.
A breakdown of all his charges
Charge #1: August 3, 2024
According to a news article by The Business Times, Yong received his first charge on August 3, where he was accused of having the intention to defraud by abetting Jolene Low Mong Han to falsify papers belonging to Evergreen GH.
In a separate report by The Straits Times, it stated that according to a court document dated on or about December 16, 2021, Yong allegedly instigated Low to falsify a tax invoice dated Sept 1, 2021, from Evergreen Assets Management for the purported bulk sales of household fittings and appliances to a person named Roy Teo.
If convicted, Yong could be fined or jailed for up to 10 years, or both, under Section 477A of the Penal Code.
Charge #2 & #3: August 8, 2024—Denied Bail
Yong received two new charges almost a week later, on August 8 this year.
In a follow-up report by The Straits Times, Yong allegedly instigated Low to falsify two tax invoices from Evergreen Assets Management for purported furniture sales—this time to two separate entities on or about December 16, 2021.
An invoice was dated May 13, 2021, to Evergreen Venture Capital. The other was dated October 22, 2021, for purported sales of furniture and interior design services to Tay Ai Chern Pearlrie.
The report also stated that Yong has remained in remand at the Central Police station since August 1. In other words, he has been held in custody by the police since the day of his arrest.
Yong was also denied bail, as the prosecution claimed that Yong was a “real flight risk notwithstanding his roots in Singapore” after discovering the aforementioned Cambodian passport during their investigations.
However, the whereabouts of these Cambodian identification documents are currently unknown, the prosecution said, noting that the existence of the documents was established by investigations and not revealed by Yong, as per The Straits Times report published on August 8.
This implies a possibility that Yong “is hiding his possession of these documents and that he may attempt to use them to flee if not further remanded”.
Yong, dressed in a red shirt and appearing in court via video link, stated that he had renounced his Cambodian citizenship in early June and was willing to follow all the conditions for his bail to be granted.
Yong also told the court that he was “in a very bad mental state,” where he mentioned seeing a doctor at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) on August 3 and requested to see a specialist at Raffles Hospital.
The prosecution rebutted that a memo from the IMH doctor did not specifically recommend a specialist. Yong has not raised any other medical complaints since August 3, adding that any medical condition raised would be addressed as soon as possible.
District Judge James Elisha Lee granted the prosecution’s request to remand Yong for seven more days. His case will be heard again on August 15. The report also stated that Yong could consult with his lawyer, Mr Sudheesan, a day or two before the hearing.
Charge #4: August 15, 2024—Bail set at S$1 million
Yong was handed his fourth charge on August 15, where he was accused of instigating someone named Thung Sai Fun to falsify several line items in Evergreen Assets Management’s financial statements.
According to a report by The Straits Times, the financial statements were for the financial year that ended March 31, 2022, which resulted in a reported profit before tax of nearly S$8 million.
On the same day, the court also set Yong’s bail amount at S$1 million, to which he must also abide by the following conditions:
- A curfew between 10PM and 6AM
- Report to an investigation officer handling the case every Monday at 10.30AM
- Surrender any travel documents in his possession
- Wear an electronic tag
As of now, Evergreen Holdings’s Instagram account has been set to private at the time of reporting. However, their website is still accessible.
In a separate report by CNA, Yong is currently out on bail, and the Singapore courts rejected his bid to leave Singapore for a business trip to Japan, explaining that his presence was not needed and his flight risk remains high.
Yong’s pre-trial conference will take place next month on September 27, 2024.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Singaporean startups here.
Feature Image Credit: David Yong via Instagram
