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Teo pleaded guilty to 20 charges including multiple counts of criminal breach of trust. Thirty-six other charges will be considered during her sentencing.

ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Published Feb 09, 2026, 03:42 PM

Updated Feb 09, 2026, 04:29 PM

SINGAPORE – A former remisier left Singapore for the United Kingdom in January 2022 after she committed offences including criminal breach of trust

Sumiko-Jill Teo Hui-Ni, 39, who worked as a remisier with Maybank Kim Eng Securities (MBKE) from April 2013 to November 2021, later had an Interpol red notice issued against her, and she was arrested in Spain in August 2022.

Police in other countries can be on the lookout for foreign offenders once such a notice is issued. The red notice can then be used to support extradition proceedings after the offender’s arrest.

Teo applied for asylum in Spain in September 2022, but was sent back to Singapore in July 2023 after her application was rejected.

On Feb 9, she pleaded guilty to 20 charges including multiple counts of criminal breach of trust. Thirty-six other charges will be considered during her sentencing.

Before her arrest, Teo returned nearly $165,000 and some US$500,000 to one of the victims, identified in court documents as V1, between December 2020 and June 2021.

She had also repaid more than $2 million to another victim, V11, and his friends. No restitution was made to the other victims.

The court heard that while working as a remisier with MBKE, now known as Maybank Securities, her roles included bringing in clients and handling trading matters relating to their trading accounts.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Theong Li Han said that Teo was an appointed representative of MBKE with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and she was authorised to conduct regulated activities and provide financial advisory services.

But as a remisier, she was an independent agent, not an employee of MBKE.

The DPP added that clients could trade via an MBKE app, where they could create portfolios.

V1 had been one of MBKE’s clients since 2011, and he maintained three trading accounts, with Teo servicing them.

On Jan 31, 2020, Teo told him that her contact in Hong Kong had “a few million shares” linked to Tencent Holdings for “placement” and asked if he was interested in taking up the placement.

V1 then transferred US$200,000 to Teo’s personal bank account as he wanted to buy these Tencent placement shares.

On Feb 5 that year, she lied to him, claiming that the money had been sent to Hong Kong.

Thirteen days later, she told him that a batch of Tencent placement shares was due for payment, and he transferred another US$200,000 to her personal bank account soon after.

As Teo had V1’s login credentials for his MBKE app account, she created a manual entry to make it appear as though 5,000 Tencent shares were purchased earlier.

DPP Theong said: “However, the accused did not use the funds entrusted to her by V1 to purchase Tencent placement shares.

“Instead, between February and March 2020, the accused dishonestly misappropriated the monies… and used (them) to pay for trading losses and securities purchases she conducted in the trading accounts of her other clients and herself, and to pay for her personal bills and expenses.”

Teo went on to misappropriate more money from V1 and the other victims.

On Jan 26, 2022, V1 visited MBKE’s office, and was told that the purported placement transactions had not taken place at all. In fact, his trading accounts were in deficit, said the DPP.

V1 then sent Teo a message via WhatsApp, threatening to alert the authorities.

He filed a police report on Jan 27, 2022, and Teo left Singapore that same morning on a one-way ticket to the UK.

The police later received 16 more reports and complaints from her clients and friends who had purportedly invested millions through her between 2020 and 2021.

Teo was arrested in Madrid, Spain, on Aug 22, 2022 and was sent back to Singapore on July 27, 2023.

She was charged in court the following month, and has been in remand since then.

Her mitigation and sentencing will take place on Feb 13.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.

Criminal breach of trust

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